Herculean
by another.creative.lover
Summary: /SasuSaku NaruHina/ Based on Titanic. Sakura revisits her past on the Herculean, biggest ship of her time that sunk, hit by an iceberg. She should have died on that ship. But, thanks to a certain Uchiha, she lives to tell her tale. Character Death!
1. Journey to America

**Herculean**

**By annee loves sasusaku**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Summary:** It's a voyage on the most gigantic luxury ship of all time: Herculean. And Sakura is getting on the ship, going across the world to be married to her fiancée Neji Hyuuga, who doesn't give a shit about anything else besides money and his family name. So what happens when Sakura runs into a certain black-haired young man that cares more about her than her fiancée? Based on _Titanic_. /SasuSaku + NaruHina/

**Chapter 1**

**Journey to America**

**-xxx-**

An old lady of about ninety years of age sat on her back porch, knitting a small scarf. She had pink tresses for hair, mixed in with marks of deep grays. She sat there, rocking back and forth on her rocking chair. On the counter of the kitchen, there was a mini television.

"_On the news today, scientists studying the ocean floors of the Atlantic found the remains of the greatest ship of all time: the Herculean, the gargantuan luxury ship that had sunk more than sixty years ago in the Atlantic Ocean when it was hit by a looming iceburg. Scientists and researchers have found this small, waterproof camera with a developed picture by its side."_

Overhearing the news, the old, pink-haired woman turned her green eyes curiously towards the television before telling her granddaughter (who was feeding her baby boy), "Dear, turn that up, please."

The black-haired, green-eyed granddaughter looked at her grandmother in surprise before turning up the mini television's volume. "What's going on, Granny?" she asked.

She hushed her. "Look," she whispered, pointing to the television. The TV gave the image of a developed picture of a bare lady, wearing nothing but a jewel on her neck. She was a beautiful thing, and the picture was still very much in tact, giving details to the beautiful figure of the large eyed beauty that stared from the picture.

The granddaughter's green eyes widened. "Wow," she breathed. "Who _is_ that?"

The old woman turned to her descendent. "Hand me the phone, dear."

She handed her the phone, watching her grandmother punch in numbers that were shown on the little TV screen.

After three rings, the other side picked up.

_"Hello?"_

"Hello, I'm calling to tell you about the picture that you found in the Herculean."

_"Yes? Do you know who it is in the picture?"_

The old rosette smiled an old smile. "Oh, yes. The woman in the picture is, in fact, me."

**-xxx-**

The man on the other line hung up the phone after making arrangements for a meeting with the old lady. He breathed out an exhausted sigh. "She says her name's Sakura…" the young man told his fellow staff member.

The other member laughed. "Then she's a lying bitch. It's impossible! She can't be _the_ Sakura Haruno. _That_ Sakura Haruno died on the day of the sinking of the _Herculean_. It's impossible! In fact, if the actual Haruno lady was still living today, she'd have to be exactly ninety-five years old by now," he pronounced smugly, readjusting his glasses and brushing his brown hair out of his eyes. "Besides, the Sakura Haruno we're talking about changed her last name to Uchiha when she came over here."

The former man chuckled, his blond hair waving in the wind. "She's turning ninety-six next month."

The latter man scoffed at him before readjusting his glasses and looking away towards his workplace… the blue ocean. He murmured, "Fine. Bring her in then."

**-xxx-**

"Welcome, ma'am!" greeted the blond man eagerly. He couldn't wait. Could he really be meeting a primary source of the _Herculean_? His hopes soared to the sky as he helped the old, pink-haired lady onto her wheel chair to wheel her out on to the mechanical ship.

The young black-haired, green-eyed girl shooed his hand away, reaching her (apparently) grandmother first. "I'll take care of her. But thanks anyway." She wheeled her onto the deck.

The blond man, although slightly irritated, shrugged off the unwelcoming gesture that the young lady had shown him and ushered the both of them into the technology lab where all the cameras had inputed their images of the sunken mechanical monster that lay nearly three thousand feet below.

Sitting down and making himself comfortable, the blond reached for the old lady's hand to shake it, politely saying, "My name's Alex. Nice to meet you, ma'am."

The old lady smiled at him before returning her introduction. "Yes, it's very pleasant to meet you. My name is Sakura Uchiha."

Alex nodded knowingly. "Yeah, you told me that over the phone." He shifted in his seat before questioning her. "So you were a survivor of the _Herculean_, if I'm not mistaken?"

The old ninety-five year old Sakura nodded. "Yes," she spoke sadly. "Yes."

"And I understand that you, in the picture that's been developed, are wearing the—"

"Flower of the Sea," they both chorused, one sadly and one knowledgably.

"Well then," the blond haired man began before turning Sakura's wheelchair around to face the images that the cameras three thousand feet below the surface of the ocean were giving to the computer. "Could you tell me if you recognize these pictures?"

Sakura Uchiha pushed stray pink tresses out of her face before staring at the all-too-familiar images in front of her. She looked at one image. '_That's the ballroom door…'_ The image of a renewed brown-glazed door appeared in her mind before she saw her twenty-year-old self walking through the doors and nodding to a waiting butler on the other side who had graciously opened the door for her. She walked into the room, chandeliers still shining as bright as ever, the stairways giant and swirling higher and higher to the high deck. And at the bottom of the steps stood...

The old lady choked back wracking sobs that came to her.

Her daughter stood up. "I'm taking her to bed—"

"No, Keiko." The ancient rosette childishly shook her head.

"But—"

"No!"

Her granddaughter sat down.

Alex began again. "Could you tell me what exactly happened? What happened to the jewel that you're wearing in the picture?" He reached for a recorder.

"Oh, that horrid thing," the ninety-five-year-old woman spat out with disgust. "It was always so heavy. I hated it dreadfully."

"So, do you have any idea what happened to it? Could you retell your story to us?"

She hesitated. "Well…I—"

"It's okay. You can take your time," the blond assured her.

Sakura stared at the young man. "Do you want me to tell you this story or not, Mr. Alex?"

Alex and his brown-haired comrade both nodded silently, Alex quite amused and his brown-haired comrade slightly annoyed.

And so, settling herself in a comfortable chair away from her wheelchair, the rosette began her story.

**-xxx-**

Crowds of Konoha civilians stood near the ocean front, waving at the people on the gargantuan cruise ship before them, hats in hand and good-byes at their mouth. On the gigantic luxury ship were big, dark letters in block form that spelled out the word:

**Herculean**

And the name suited it. The cruise ship itself was gigantic beyond words. So far, it was the biggest luxury ship known to mankind. And it was heading to the most-dreamed about country of all time: the United States of America. The people on the cruise ship were on their way to Dream Land, to a land where everyone could seek out their economic pursuits and start over without anyone caring about their name, their heritage…it was a chance to become a better person, a wealthier person with oppression.

But that freedom didn't include Sakura Haruno, our pink-haired heroine that was now stepping out of her carriage, looking up at the titanic giant that now ruled the ocean front. _'This is one impressive ship…'_ Sakura thought.

"It doesn't look too big," the rosette uninterestedly stated out loud to her mother and her fiancée that escorted her out of her carriage.

"Sakura, watch your mouth," her mother berated gently before turning to a pearly-eyed young man that presently held Sakura's hand. "I'm terribly sorry, Neji. You know how Sakura can be sometime."

The raven-haired man merely laughed and shook it off. "Do not worry, dearest mother. It's just a part of her that I need to get used to if I wish to court her, correct?" Neji turned to his pink-haired fiancée. "What did you think of the ship again, dearest?"

Sakura scoffed before adjusting her large sun hat. "I think it's no different from the _Rosemary._ The _Herculean_ seems just as big as the _Rosemary_. There isn't exactly anything to fuss about." She fanned herself, ignoring her mother's glares.

"Come, dearest. We should go send our belongings on deck before our ship departs," Neji spoke cheerfully before calling up a busboy. The pearly-eyed man handed the boy a bill with an impressive number on it. "Get our bags up to the ship as quickly as possible and you can keep the change."

The luggager murmured excessively, "Yes, sir! Yes, sir!" before leaving with the luggage as quickly as possible, heading away towards the ship.

After Neji had dealt with him, he looked towards his sweet fiancée. "Ready, dearest?"

Sakura smiled sweetly at him before hissing through clenched teeth, "Yes"—Don't say it, _don't say it!—"honey."_

Giving his pink-haired future wife a genuine grin, Neji looped her arm through his (also grabbing her mother's arm also) and dragged both of his future relatives towards the ship.

And all the while, Sakura was screaming on the inside of her head, begging to be taken back to where she belonged and never see the crazy, money-obsessed man ever again. But sadly, all she could do was stare at her gloating ring that held a large diamond and be dragged away to her unwanted future.

**-xxx-**

A raven-haired young man sat there in a coffee shop, cards in hand and three other people beside him. In the middle of the table were two yellow tickets that spelled out crudely the words:

**Ticket to Herculean**

Running a hand through his spikey locks of black-blue hair, the young man sighed before taking the cigarette out of his mouth and snubbing it out on the table. He looked suspiciously to the two men that sat in front of him.

They glared back at him, holding their cards closer to their faces.

The young man smirked. '_Of course.'_ He turned to his blond haired friend who was shooting daggers at the people across the table, also holding his cards close at hand, whispering, "Hey, dobe."

The blond-haired man turned to him and grinned. "Yeah, Sasuke-teme?"

Smirk. "We're going to win those tickets."

The blond's grin grew wider. "Hands down."

The duo nodded at each other before returning their attention to the two men in front of them who were still smoking their long-ass cigars.

One man blew a puff of smoke in Sasuke's face.

Sasuke resisted the urge to sock him and watch the blood flow out of his nose. That would've been very satisfying right now. But right now, all Sasuke cared about was winning those luxury ship tickets, for both him and the dobe. It was a once in a life-time chance just to go to America. And he wanted to take it.

"Alright," the raven-haired man monotoned. "Cards down." He nodded to the older man across from him. "You first."

He laid his cards down. "Three to a hand."

Smirk. Then he turned to the blond next to him. "Sorry, Naruto."

"SASUKE-TEME, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, 'SORRY'? I'M SUPPOSED TO BE GOING TO AMERICA, YOU BASTARD!" The blond yelled outrageously loud.

The onyx-eyed man winced at the high decibels that came flowing out of the blue-eyed man's mouth, before regaining his cool composure and saying, "I'm apologizing because you'll have to say good-bye to Tsunade and Kakashi…"

He slammed his cards to the table.

"Because we're going to America."

Sasuke smirked as he saw the two men gape at his hand. No fucking way. On the table laid an impossible five cards to a hand. A full house. The two men burst out in argument.

"Goddammit, ya bastard! You stupid idiot, bettin' the damn tickets!"

"Me? Whaddaya talkin' about, you stupid asshole? I oughta—"

Sasuke grabbed the tickets as the fray broke out, dragging the excited blond with him.

Naruto whooped with giddy. "YES! BELIEVE IT! I'M GOIN' TO AMERICA! WHOO-HOO!"

Smirk. "Shut up, dobe," Sasuke replied as he let go of the blond man's shirt and pointed to his old wristwatch. "The ship's going in five minutes. You wanna let this slip past us when we _just_ got the tickets?"

Naruto shook his head violently.

"Then let's go." And with that, the two of them burst out running at extraordinary speeds.

Sasuke, secretly excited (stoic as he was), let a small smile tug at his lips. '_Finally… I'm finally going to America…_'

The two of them, black and blond, dashed through the crowd, passing through the inspection, handing the people their tickets and then dashing down to their rooms.

As they settled their little belongings in their little apartment like rooms, Naruto grinned at his best friend. "We're goin' to live the life now, ne, Sasuke-teme?"

Smirk. "Of course, dobe."

Naruto grabbed the top bunk before the black-haired man could get it himself, only to be roughly pushed out of the way and land with a sound 'thunk' on the floor. Sasuke stared down at him, a smirk on his face.

"Who says you get top bunk, dobe?"

"DAMMIT, SASUKE-BASTARD, YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN SUCH A GODDAM PAIN-IN-THE-ASS! WHY THE HELL WON'T YOU LET ME HAVE THE TOP BUNK?"

The stoic young man sighed before kicking him in the chest. "Shut up and sleep on the bottom. Just be thankful you don't have to sleep out in the cold, you idiot."

Muttering something about how bastards always seemed to be so selfish and uncaring, Naruto reluctantly acquiesced and climbed to the bottom bunk. After everything seemed to be settled down, Naruto looked over to his emotionless best friend. "Ne, Sasuke-teme?"

Sasuke grunted.

"Do you think we'll find some people on this ship?"

The raven-haired man turned to look at him from where he was standing, folding his clothes and putting his coat up on a hanger. "What do you mean?"

Naruto flashed him a gigantic grin. "Like if we find anyone special on this journey to America. Ever think of that, bastard?" He gave the stoic young man a playful punch to the arm.

Sasuke scoffed at his best friend's nonsense. _"_Like that would ever happen," he mumbled before giving his best friend a smirk. "Of course, anyone who actually gives you the time of day has pretty bad taste…"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU BASTARD!"

The raven-haired man gave a half-laugh at his best friend's childish antics before gazing out the window at the open sea front with a dazed look on his face. "That's not going to happen… that sounds too much like a stupid fairytale." Sasuke had always hated clichés. They never made sense to him. Well, they did, but then they were always repeated in a story in different forms. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, then they live happily ever after…something among those lines. Anyways , that was besides the point. The point was that the Sasuke Uchiha did _not_ like fairytales, clichés, or love stories of those kind. He hated them. Hated them, hated them, _hated_ them.

Naruto's annoyed snort at his words broke Sasuke's little rant inside his head. "Heh. Watch it, teme. Someday, sometime, somewhen, _you_ are going to actually meet someone who you actually like. And with your little attitude, I'm pretty sure it won't last long."

"What the fuck are you talking about, idiot?" Sasuke snapped.

The blond shrugged. "I'm just sayin'. You'll meet someone you actually—dare I say it—_love_." The blue-eyed young man's expression turned soft. "And then…"

His sentence trailed off.

But Sasuke understood it. His best friend didn't even have to say it. And he understood.

'_And then they'll leave…'_

A twinge of discomfort hit the onyx-eyed boy as he sat there, thinking over his friend's words. "But what are the chances of me 'falling in love'"—he spat those words out with contempt—"if there's no such way that I'll ever make that happen?" He murmured these words as softly as possible, almost to himself.

But the blond had heard. "It'll happen, Sasuke. Just wait. I'll be right, and you'll be wrong…" Naruto said this all very sadly. He knew all of this was going to happen. He was always right about his best friend because he'd known him for so long. But Sasuke, being the unemotional block of ice that always seemed to block human contact (besides him, but Naruto was his best friend, for Chrissake!), Sasuke always ruined every single relationship that had ever occurred to him. _'And he doesn't even care…'_

That was when Naruto became determined to help his best friend. Help him…well, help him first make new friends, and then hopefully… hopefully he could help his friend actually have a love life. _'Alright then!' _Naruto thought determinedly. '_I'll help the dobe get a girl!'_

"BELIEVE IT!" Naruto shouted excitedly…before bumping his head against the metal frame of the top bunk. He rubbed at it. "Dammit…who the hell in their right mind would fucking put a damn metal frame right above a person sleeping right under them? People these days…"

The blond stole a glance at his friend.

Sasuke, unaware of his outburst, was still staring out of the small window, out into the sea. But, knowing him well enough, Naruto knew that Sasuke wasn't looking at anything in particular. He was thinking about what he had said. And what he was going to do about it.

Thinking about his friend's future, the blue-eyed, blond-haired boy once again smiled sadly before laying down on his small bed and closing his eyes to rest.

Once the blond was snoring soundly, Sasuke stood up and walked out of the room. '_I'll just go up to the top deck and walk around for a while. Get some fresh air. That'll clear me up…'_

Once up at the top of the luxurious passenger ship, Sasuke stood at the front of the ship, watching the ship, now in gear and already far away from Konoha, cut through the salty sea waters and the dolphins racing around the ship. Onward, the raven-haired man looked, out to the horizon, hoping that soon he would touch his feet to the legendary America land. And start over. It was the most he could hope for. And something that he could think about to get his best friend's words out of his head.

'_He's not right…he's not going to be right…_' And with that, the Uchiha began his little walk around the deck, carrying around his little waterproof camera with his treasured pictures. "I need to take some pictures…" He muttered to himself. This was going to be a journey worthwhile. And he was going to make himself enjoy it. Without the involvement of girls…hopefully.

**-xxx-**

**Author's Note****: **Whew! Wow. This idea just came to me when I was reading this one SasuSaku fic that was based off of _Twilight_. That's when I thought of _Titanic_. I based it off of the _Titanic_ because I really thought the love story was touching. And I really want to know how I'm going to write a character death. And I know, I know. I should be focusing on writing iSakura. But this idea hit me! It's not my fault! *hids behind my chair* Anyways, REVIEW people! It helps me write! And, I just got over my five year writer's block. I don't want to get on it again. So, unless you want me to discontinue my stories, please review and help the poor girl who is currently typing away on her laptop to entertain you. (laughs). It's a _suggestion_. Don't take my threat seriously. But, seriously this time, it would really help if you reviewed! Oh, and Sasuke's going to be not like Jack Dawson in the movie. I'm going to make him different. Heh-heh…

**REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! :D**


	2. The Meeting

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or the Titanic plot. They all belong to the geniuses that have created them.

**Chapter 2**

**The Meeting**

**-xxx-**

Sasuke sat there on the small bench near the edge of the ship, watching for anything that was worth taking a picture of. He gazed almost lazily around the high deck of the luxury ship, searching for a Kodak moment before laying his eyes on a touching scene of father and son.

The father, wearing a mere coat, pants, gloves, shoes and a thin hat, held his son up to the railings of the giant ship. The little boy was intrigued as he stood there, listening to his father's explanation of the voyager ship's propellers that were probably going up to high speeds.

Sasuke readied his miniature camera, making sure that the flash was off before taking a snapshot. The father and the son, too busy enjoying their moment, didn't notice a thing.

The professional photographer reviewed his snapshot. It captured everything: the father-son feeling, the warmth emanating from the father to his son, the innocence of the little brown-haired boy as he listening carefully to his father, and the atmosphere, the environment around them.

"Hn…" Sasuke grunted before pocketing his camera. He was going to have to develop that picture later on. After he had gathered a few more so that he wouldn't have to run back and forth between developments.

The raven-haired man let his onyx eyes trail around the deck once more, trying to find someone, something worthy of being captured. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of pink.

'_Pink? Who the hell's wearing pink?'_ Sasuke thought to himself. Only the rich wore colors. '_If I catch a glimpse of whoever that is, maybe I could take—_' His thoughts stopped when he saw her.

The sun was just setting behind her, but it made her seem all the more entrancing. She seemed to glow with the sunlight behind her, her pink locks of hair flowing in the breeze. They were only a few locks because she had her hair pulled up into a well-prepared bun, pulling away from her face to reveal a broad forehead and brilliant emerald eyes.

Those eyes weren't looking at him, though. They were staring off into the distance, focusing on nothing in particular. They were just…_staring_.

Staring just like how Sasuke was at her at the very moment. And another passenger of the third deck (the deck for the poorest people) noticed. He laughed at him. "Buddy, I'm going to tell you, you ain't going to get a lady like that." The other man wiped at his eyes before shutting up when the raven-haired man glared daggers at him.

Continuing to ignore the man and his crude comments, Sasuke reached for his camera. But before he could pull it out and quickly take a picture of the entrancing girl, the gods in the sky decided to smite him and his chances by bringing out their secret weapon.

His best friend.

"SASUKE! SASUKE-TEME! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU, DAMMIT?"

Sasuke felt his eyelid involuntarily twitch as he heard the annoying shrieks of his blond friend, not too far off from where he was sitting.

That was also when it happened.

The rosette chose that moment to turn towards the sound, but stopped, staring at the raven-haired man instead who was holding up a miniature camera, pointed straight at her.

Their eyes met.

And Sasuke felt his heart jump.

He hadn't known that she was so…breathtaking. '_I have to take a picture of her…'_ he told himself resolutely before averting his gaze away from the rosette's captivating green eyes that seemed to pull him in.

"SASUKE! SAAAASUKEEE!"

Said boy sighed, once again pocketing his small camera and then, standing up, walking towards the sound of the noisy boy that had gone screaming his name like bloody murder.

"I'm here, dobe. You don't have to shout," he monotoned. God, the boy was always so loud, it was absolutely _annoying_. Sasuke himself didn't even know why he chose to put up with him. But he did.

Naruto didn't stop shouting. "SASUKE-TEME! GODDAMMIT, ANSWER ME WHEN I'M CALLING FOR YOU, YOU BASTARD!"

Sighing in furious exasperation, Sasuke realized that Naruto wasn't exactly close by at all. He was all the way on the other side of the ship. Go figure. See what he can do with his big mouth?

"Guess I have to go get him," he muttered to himself before turning back to catch one last glimpse of the pink-haired beauty.

She was there, alright. But with another man. A man with long, luscious midnight hair and lavender-colored eyes with an alluring smile that would probably make any woman swoon. But, this pinkette didn't. She didn't swoon over him; she didn't react when the man held her by her waist and ushered her back in to where she belonged; she didn't show any emotion whatsoever.

The raven-haired man ran a hand through his spikey midnight locks before turning away, sighing to himself, and heading towards the sound of his loud best friend's voice, hoping to find him soon so that he could yell at him instead of having a certain rosette on his mind.

**-xxx-**

Naruto was _beyond_ frustrated. He was deathly angry. '_Dammit, when I see that bastard, I'm going to kick his fucking ass…'_ The blond wouldn't have been so angry. Not really. But imagining waking up to an empty room where you expect your best friend to be…and your best friend isn't there. Not a nice feeling to have.

So, it was true. Naruto was worried about his friend, mostly because the guy always got himself in to all sorts of trouble. The blond remembered the time when his raven-haired friend picked a fight with someone for accidentally bumping into him. The two of them (Yup, both Naruto and the bastard) ended up in Konoha hospital for almost two months. The injuries were that bad.

The blue-eyed boy chuckled to himself before muttering, "If a guy had worn his socks inside out, I bet Sasuke would have kicked his ass…" That was just how Sasuke was. Hot-headed, arrogant, and always in denial about _everything_. No kidding.

'_But…'_ Naruto had known Sasuke more than anyone ever had. At first, he thought that the bastard had a stick up his ass or something and was basically an all-around prick with a monster ego. But, later on, Naruto had learned that his friend had taken on a photography career. And what a great photographer he was.

Sasuke made photography an art. Even though the Uchiha himself was stoic, he could capture any such emotions that people were emanating from themselves; it was almost like he captured auras of people in pictures, revealing their hearts and souls.

'_That's probably what he was doing up here…' _Naruto thought, _'But dammit, if only he told me _before_ he was fucking going…'_

Deep in thought, Naruto didn't notice that there was anyone in his vicinity…and bumped into someone in his train of thought.

It all happened very quickly.

Naruto was just a flash of blond hair before he had tumbled with (apparently) a lady. He had landed on top of her, ending up staring…straight into her pearly eyes.

The blond gulped, taking in her long black-blue hair and her now flushed cheeks, before standing up, brushing himself off, and helping the poor girl up. He smiled at her awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head self-consciously and scuffing his feet on the deck.

"Eh-heh…Sorry about that, miss," Naruto apologized before looking at her once again. She had pale, pale skin almost to the point of looking creamy and soft. She was delicate and small, her long midnight hair flowing down to the small of her back. Her soft light-purple dress, once without a wrinkle, was now creased and slightly dirty. Her face was the only part of her that wasn't pale because of a deep, attractive pink that plagued her cheekbones and flushed across her face. Pearly eyes wouldn't meet his gaze.

The girl bent down to pick up her sun hat (which probably fell when Naruto had bumped into her and made them both go crashing down) before replying with a slight stutter, "N-No…th-that's okay." She smiled at him. "It's n-not every d-day a stranger c-comes crashing into you." She giggled.

Naruto grinned, his face flushing slightly from her unexpected apology acceptance. "Still, I'm really sorry, miss." He stared at her again. "And I don't even know who I'm apologizing to."

She looked shyly at him from under her sun hat. "O-oh…m-my name is Hinata Hyuuga." She graciously held her hand out for him. "And who do I have the p-pleasure of m-meeting so suddenly today?"

Naruto held her small hand gently, marveling at the smallness of her hand. "Name's Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. Pleased to meet you."

In the distance, Naruto could hear a faint voice yelling, "Hinata!"

Apparently, so could she. Hinata jerked her hand away before turning to Naruto and smiling. "U-um… it was v-very nice to m-meet you, Naruto-san. I must be o-off now. Good-bye!"

Naruto felt his heart drop. "Will I get to see you again, Hinata-chan?"

The girl stiffened at the mention of the suffix before turning around and smiling shyly at him. "We'll see…N-Naruto-k-kun…" Dashing away towards the voice that was calling her name, Hinata left Naruto alone.

The young blond looked after her, longing in his eyes. When the girl was clearly out of earshot, he pumped his fist up in the air and made a victory stance. "Alright! Believe it!" he shouted, grinning from ear to ear. '_Wait 'til the bastard finds out that I got a girl _before_ him!' _Naruto laughed evilly before returning his thoughts to a certain black-blue haired girl that he had literally bumped into while lost in his thoughts.

**-xxx-**

Sakura reassumed her seat inside. Tonight was the night of the banquet, when all the nobles of Konoha and the other villages gathered together in one large room. The rich laughed, drank, and talked merrily about absolutely nothing. And it irritated Sakura beyond ends. The only person who was actually rich and logical and was able to keep her sane was Lady Tsunade.

Lady Tsunade was known to the rich people as "new money". Apparently, she had recently struck oil somewhere in Konoha. And it was on her property. Although the other people from the other villages didn't exactly want to, they grudgingly recognized her as _one of them_. Lady Tsunade was extremely logical and level-headed for a rich person though.

And that was what drew Sakura to her. Lady Tsunade didn't berate her for speaking her mind, for saying what she thought, for reading anything knowledgable, unlike her own mother, who demanded that she act more like what she was born as: a girl, someone who didn't know left from right and clueless, cut off from the world.

Everything in Sakura's life was put out for her, planned out step by step. She had no say in it whatsoever. And this lack of control made her mind spiral out of control. '_Not a single person in here knows what I'm going through…not a single person _cares.' She looked over to Neji, handsome in his tuxedo and bowtie, chattering away amiably to the ladies that sat near him, putting himself as charming.

'_Of course, he's not even talking about anything important…that's how all conversations here are.'_ Airy. Shallow. Simple-minded talk. It was always the same thing and around the same subject. Money. You didn't have any? Get out of here.

Sakura stood up abruptly, ignoring the sting of oncoming tears that were promptly rushing to her eyes, dashing out of the room. No one noticed her disappearance.

'_Of course they don't notice. Not one person notices anything_,' she thought blindly through the tears that were now fresh and dripping off of her face. She ran past a old wooden bench where a figure laid in the shadows, staring up at the stars. A figure with midnight hair.

Sasuke watched as he saw the girl with pink hair dash pass his bench hysterically. What a coincidence.

_(Flashback)_

_ "Hey, dobe, I'm going up to the top deck."_

_ Naruto grunted in his sleep. "Whatever, teme. Just shut up and let me go back to sleep. _

_ Sasuke could tell _why_ he had the sudden urge to go to the top deck. He just had a _feeling_. A feeling that was nagging at him._

_ 'Go…' nagged a voice in his head. 'there might be some good of laying there under the stars tonight.' _

_ Smirk. "See you later, idiot," Sasuke murmured before he shut the door quietly behind him as to not disturb his blond friend. _

_ Little did Sasuke know that after he had shut the door, Naruto had sprung right onto his feet, grinning like a madman. "Time to go find Hinata-chan!" he told himself excitedly before exiting the room himself. _

_ It was going to be a long night for the both of them. _

_(End Flashback)_

For once in his life, his intuition had brought him something. Curiously, Sasuke thought as to why the fuck did the girl he had just seen this afternoon was dashing away from her beautiful dinner party with all those beautiful people. He shrugged before sitting up in his seat on the wooden bench to look after her.

Only to be surprised out of his wits.

There, on the outside edge of the railings, stood the rosette, tears dripping down her face and determination setting in.

Sasuke didn't know what he was doing. All he knew was that he had to get the girl out of her situation safely. '_Now how the fuck am I going to do that?'_ He pushed the thought away before resolutely walking towards the suicidal girl.

"What the hell are you doing?"

This inquiry startled the rosette. She looked over her shoulder at the man that was currently standing behind her, scowling. She gave him a glare that concealed over a thousand daggers. And years of emotional distress.

Sasuke stiffened as he saw the many emotions flashing through her eyes. Anger. Desperation. Hurt. But the emotion that really stood out to him as he looked into her brilliant emerald eyes was confusion. And it stood out like a knife.

"Why the fuck should you care?" the pink-haired girl directed at him.

"I…I don't."

She smiled bitterly at him. "Well there you go."

Before Sasuke could stop himself, he blurted out, "Why are you doing this?" It came out lower and softer than usual in an attempt to stop the girl from her possible future actions and his consequences for being there.

The rosette laughed bitterly before answering his question. "Because, my dear savior"—she spat the title towards him with a drip of sarcasm—"no one gives a fuck. They don't know what I've been feeling, they don't _care_ how I've been feeling, and they…they…dammit, they just don't understand!" She was past hysterical now, her hurt showing visually on her face.

"Come back over here," Sasuke demanded.

"Why the fuck should I?" she spat back.

"Because if you don't...if you jump…" Sasuke said without thinking, "I'll have to stop you."

The rosette once again laughed at him bitterly. "And how do you suppose you'll do that?"

He shrugged, not knowing a clue about what he would do. "Just come over here. Don't be stupid."

"Why do you care so much?" she muttered under her breath.

"Because you would waste yourself."

Sakura's breath caught in her throat, the cold air probably affecting her. "What the fuck do you mean, you bastard?"

"Hn," Sasuke half-laughed, "that's what my best friend calls me…"

By this time, Sakura had turned all the way around to face him, adjusting her position on the railings, her body still on the other side. "Who's your best friend?" she asked curiously. Hinata, her own best friend, was in desperate need of a boyfriend. Well, in Sakura's opinion that was. Hinata needed someone besides her cousin to protect her, someone who cared for her more than a relative would. But the thing was, Neji wouldn't even let Hinata go with _anyone_, being the protective cousin he was. Neji and Hinata were almost brother and sister-like. '_If only Neji wasn't so money crazed…_'

"His name's Naruto," the black-blue haired man said casually. "What about yours?"

Sakura stayed silent, wondering whether or not to answer him. "What's yours?"

"Hn. Turn around and come over here and I'll tell you."

For the first time in the whole trip, Sakura's lips turned up into a smile. "I don't like being teased," she said even though she turned around carefully to face him on the other side of the railing.

The young man extended out a hand to the rosette. She took it, smiling at him softly.

"So what's your name, stranger?" she asked.

The young man smirked. "Uchiha Sasuke," he stated, still holding her hand (unknowingly, of course). "Now. What's yours?"

The rosette burst into a real smile this time. "Haruno Sakura."

Sasuke shook her hand once and released it. He stared at her. She stared back.

It was the first time that Sakura had actually looked at a man like this in her entire life. Uchiha Sasuke. She gazed at his features for a while. He had high cheekbones, pale, pale skin, and rebelliously spiked hair that resembled a chicken's butt. She stifled the urge to giggle, remembering where she was and how dangerous the fall would be.

That was when Sakura had gazed into his eyes. They were dark, onyx orbs that could stare right into your soul, reading emotion off of a person like a book. Suddenly, Sakura felt self-conscious about herself, looking away from the Uchiha's intense stare.

The raven-haired man scowled before muttering, "Tch. Annoying. Get over here, idiot. You'll fall."

Pouting, the pink-haired girl carefully stepped on the top railing, climbing it in an attempt to climb over the rail that separated the midnight haired man and the pink-haired woman.

Everything went swimmingly, of course….

Up until Sakura slipped on her dress. She screamed as she felt herself losing her footing.

Two strong hands held her by her single arm. The rest of her dangled dangerously off of the edge of the front of the ship, miles high above black, icy waters that could kill in a single fall.

Sakura became desperate. "Help!" she yelled.

Sasuke gripped her arm with both of his hands tightly. "Tch. Annoying. I told you to get over here."

"Damn it, just shut up and help me!" Sakura screamed desperately, clinging to dear life.

Sasuke tightened his hold on her arm. "Do you trust me?"

She snapped her head back to him from where she was staring at the ominous waters below. "What?"

"Damn it, Sakura, do you trust me?"

The pink-haired girl hesitated before nodding and saying, "Yes. I trust you, Sasuke."

"Then help yourself, stupid!" he shouted at her. "Grab my arms with your other hand!"

She did so, following his directions and letting him pull her up and over the railing.

Sasuke, unable to hold her after his strenuous pulling-her-up, let her fall upon him.

Or that was what he planned…

It ended up with Sakura lying pinned to the floor of the deck, her pink hair sprawled out on the wooden floor. She was breathing heavily, trying to contain herself after the frightening near-death incident. '_I didn't want to go that far…_' she thought. She had almost killed the both of them. It was all her fault. Fresh tears sprung from her eyes at the thought. They flowed down her flushed cheeks and dripped onto her collarbone, now showing through her ripped blouse.

She put her head in her hands, sobs wracking her body violently.

Sasuke moved towards her awkwardly. "Tch. Jeez." He didn't know how to comfort. He never was a people person. So when things like this happened, the Uchiha didn't know what to do. Curse him for being so socially crippled! The raven-haired man awkwardly caressed her back, trying to calm her down as best he could.

Sakura launched herself into Sasuke's arms. She wanted human comfort. She _**needed**_ human comfort. And so far, Sasuke was as far as it was to being human.

Sasuke uncomfortably embraced her, rubbing her back and murmuring to her about being stupid. "You're so stupid…Tch. So annoying."

Strangely, those words comforted her. They showed that he cared, that he knew what was going on with her. He was reprimanding her, not for being an idiot, but for nearly throwing her life away and being stupid about it. He had saved her in so many ways.

Slowly but surely, Sakura's sobs died down and she rested in Sasuke's arms, groggily trying to keep her eyes open.

"Sasuke?"

"Aa…"

"Thank you."

"Hn."

"Stop using one word answers, bastard."

Smirk. "Hn." Just as Sasuke was about to call her stupid and annoying again, two men dressed in fine suits came dashing down to the front deck.

And one of them was the man that Sasuke had seen earlier with Sakura.

The two untangled themselves from each other and stood up, meeting the two men with unmoving gazes.

The man with lavender eyes eyed Sasuke. "Pleasant to meet you, sir." That was a lie. A big fat lie. And Sasuke knew it.

Sasuke grunted at him. "The feeling is mutual." Then he eyed the man that stood next to Lavender Eyes. "Who's this?"

Sakura interrupted the both of them in their little testosterone fight. "Dearest, this is Uchiha Sasuke." She turned to introduce the both of them to each other. "Sasuke, this is my fiancé, Hyuuga Neji."

The two men just stared at each other, both using the same expression of contempt.

Sakura and the butler (Neji's butler) sweatdropped. '_Oh, boy. Here comes a little testosterone fight…_'

Neji began. "I heard my dear Sakura crying for help." He looked towards Sakura. "Is that not correct, dearest?"

Sakura gave him a fake, small smile. "Yes, I did actually. You see, Sasuke here—" She gestured to the raven-haired man who stood next to her "—saved my life. I was trying to get a good look at the…the…" She twirled her fingers in a circular motion.

"Propellers?"

"Yes, that's it! The propellers! I was trying to get a good look at the propellers when I slipped and nearly fell into the water." She glanced at Sasuke. "That was when the good Uchiha here came to help me."

Neji's butler looked at Sasuke suspiciously.

The raven-haired man returned to him a smirk.

Neji, after hearing his fiancée's story, nodded and then told his butler, "Give the man something nice. Five hundred yen."

Sakura stopped him, holding him by the arm. "Why, Neji, is that any way to repay the man who saved the woman you love?"

Neji looked at her, then glanced at Sasuke before sighing in acquiescence. "Alright then," he sighed before turning to the raven-haired man. "Would you like to be invited to dinner tomorrow evening?"

Sasuke felt the tug of a smirk on his lips. "That would be acceptable."

Neji nodded in finality before gesturing for his fiancée to come with him. Sakura, knowing her role, looped her arm through his before looking back at the raven-haired man who had saved her in more ways than one.

The two of them walked back into the room that was filled with light, food, and empty talk.

That left the butler and the Uchiha alone. Sasuke began to leave for his bunk before the butler stopped him with a crude remark.

"Funny how her dress is all ripped while she was only looking at the propellers, don't you think—" the butler spat out the next part "—sir?"

Ignoring the butler's comment and the thoughts of a certain rosette plaguing his mind, Sasuke made his way down to his room on the third level.

"Hn…" he muttered, thinking of how Sakura had looked just as enchanting in the moonlight as she did with the sun shining behind her.

And so, the raven-haired man, with confusion in his mind and a girl in his heart, made his way to his room to find his friend and have a clarifying talk about what the hell was running through his mind.

**-xxx-**

**Author's Note: **GAH! I didn't exactly know how to end this one… and I know that Jack Dawson in _Titanic_ had said that he would go in there after her (which I totally like, swooned over). And Sasuke's supposed to be a block of ice who goes through denial. But I made Sasuke a guy with an artist's mind. Which was why he saw Sakura beautiful. Even though he didn't want to admit it. :P

Oh and something else: I haven't watched all of Titanic. It's just like bits of it. I know the ending, I know the beginning and near the middle parts. But I don't know what happens after the fiancé dude gets all pissed at Rose for consorting with Jack. . If you have plot things from _Titanic_ or just want to review me to help me get over my writer's block, please do that. All help is appreciated!

_Review, Review, Review!_


	3. The Party

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or Titanic

**Chapter 3**

**The Party**

**-xxx-**

It was the next morning and already the sun was shining beautifully on the large ship's deck. People were already scattered around the high deck, enjoying the view of the ocean and the salty air of the sea. Among the sea spectators on the high deck were two young people, taking a walk. One of the two stood out prominently against the sun, her pink-hair shining. She walked next to a young man with midnight hair.

"Ah, I'd like to thank you for saving me there last night," the rosette said graciously, chuckling to herself. "I must have looked really stupid to you…"

"Hn," the raven-haired man grunted as he smirked at the pink-haired girl that strode beside him. "That _was_ really stupid of you…"

Sakura gaped at him. "Excuse me, Mr. Uchiha?"

Sasuke turned his head nonchalantly turned her, his hands stuffed into his pockets. He raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

The rosette sputtered, words not able to form sentences. "Tha—you're—you, Mr. Uchiha, are—"

"Sasuke."

The pink-haired girl stared at him again. "Excuse me?"

"Just call me Sasuke. Don't do all the formality crap with me."

Sakura stiffened before she sighed. "Alright then…Sasuke-san." She eyed the young man as he stared out into the distant horizon across the ocean. "Where are you from?"

The raven-haired man kept his eyes on the horizon. "Konoha. But I've been to a lot of places," he plainly stated, turning his head to look at the pinkette standing next to him. "Where're you from?"

It was the rosette's turn to stare out into the distance, her eyes glazing over. "Japan. But from a different part. My family and my fiancé drove all the way from one of the farther cities to reach the _Herculean_."

Sasuke continued to gaze over the pink-haired female's aristocratic features, taking in her broad forehead, her pink hair, high cheekbones, and lastly, her brilliant green eyes that seemed to shine as brightly as the sparkling waters of the ocean. It was then that Sasuke blurted out something that he never expected to say to anyone.

"You don't love him."

Sakura turned to him, surprising painting over her face. "Excuse me?"

"Your fiancé," Sasuke clarified for her.

This man never ceased to keep her stuttering. Never before had she ever been so shocked in her entire life. "Excuse me, Sasuke-san, but I think that is strictly personal! Wha—Who are you to say that? How can you just _say_ that? You—you don't know me!" By now, the pink-haired woman was throwing her hands about her in pure fury and annoyance. This man didn't know her! He didn't know _anything_! How could he say such a thing?

"But you don't doubt that you don't love him," Sasuke stated simply again. "Right?" He played with the camera that he had stored in his pocket, taking it out to hopefully captured some pictures of other passengers.

"That's none of your business, Sasuke-san!" Sakura desperately tried to change the conversation. She glanced around for anything, anything that would take her out of the figurative corner he had placed her in. Her emerald eyes landed on the small camera that the raven-haired man was toying with in his hand. "What the hell is that anyway?" Sakura asked, grabbing at it.

Sasuke managed to pull it out of her reach, holding it high over his head just out of her reach. Smirk. "You mean my camera? Haven't you seen one before?"

Sakura jumped for the camera a few times. Then, tired from her mini exercise, the rosette sighed and stood there, crossing her arms over her chest. "Sasuke-san, just let me see it!"

Smirk. "Say 'Sasuke-_kun_' and '_please_'. Then I'll let you see it."

The rosette stared at him, her mouth wide open. "But—I—"

The raven-haired man turned away from her. "Hn. I thought you actually _wanted_ to see it." He was just about to put his camera back into his pocket—

"Wait!" called the rosette.

Smirk. Slowly, Sasuke turned around, the smirk still plastered onto his face. He raised an eyebrow at her, watching her clench her hands into small fists.

She sighed before resolutely looking the raven-haired man straight in the eyes, emerald clashing against onyx. "May I _please_ see your camera—"

She gulped. "Sasuke-_kun_?" There went all her aristocratic training. In minutes, he had turned from "Uchiha-san" to "Sasuke-kun."

"Aa…" Sasuke breathed out before handing her the camera. He watched as the girl toyed around with it, looking through the pictures.

She came across a few pictures of naked women. Sakura looked up from his camera, giving him a small, wry smile. "Why, Sasuke-kun, I didn't know that you were into pornography."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, scowling at her. "I'm not. They're just models."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Are you like a professional photographer?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I guess so."

"Well, I don't see anything so great about these pictures. They're not that good…" Sakura looked through a few more. A picture of father and son captured her eye. The photograph stood out to her, warmth and patience radiating from the father in the picture and innocence from the small little boy. It was…amazing. Not a single photographer she had known was able to capture such feelings inside a picture before. Well… none that she _had_ known. "These… are actually very good…" the rosette muttered, biting out the reluctant praise. She ran over a few more pictures, finding more nude models. "What is it with you and naked girls?"

Sasuke gave her a scowl. "I'm _not_ into pornography. They actually _volunteered_ to model for me. And these actually take me a long time to develop…"

"Alright then, Sasuke-kun, whatever you say," Sakura teased as she flipped the screen to a few more. As she did, she noticed that she had seen a girl that appeared more than a few times. "This girl seems to pose a lot for you," Sakura murmured, turning her head toward Sasuke. "Were you in love with her?"

The raven-haired man scoffed. "I don't believe in love. It was more like I was in love with her features." He pointed out her bone structure and the physique of her body. "See, those parts could really help an artist. The hands are the hardest parts to sketch for an artist." He traced the outline of the girl in the photograph's hands.

Sakura chuckled to herself behind her hand. She looked over at Sasuke who was currently giving her a suspicious glare.

"What?" he demanded. Sasuke _hated_ it when people laughed at him. It always irritated him. And irritation from a certain rosette made it even worse.

Sakura calmed her chuckling down a bit. "It's just that I've never thought of you having an artist's mind." She gazed at him with her emerald eyes. "That's very impressive, Sasuke-kun."

Just as Sasuke was about to deny his artist's mind (because artists were usually romantics and he most certainly was _not_), a voice called out in their direction.

"Sakura-chan!"

The rosette turned toward the sound of her name, recognizing her best friend's voice. Sakura smiled when she saw Hinata walking around the deck with a blond boy. "Hi, Hinata-chan!" she waved over at her best friend with a delicate hand.

The blond boy looked over to where Sakura sat, his eyes widening when he saw his best friend. "YO, SASUKE-TEME!" he called loudly, "NICE JOB!" With that, the boy turned back to the dark-haired girl that he was walking with, entertaining her with stories about where he was from and of his friends and family. Hinata giggled at his frivolous actions.

Sakura watched the two of them happily while she sat there with the raven-haired man by her side. The rosette let out a sigh before saying, "Hinata's _finally_ got someone."

Sasuke, once scowling at his best friend's words, turned his gaze over to her, inquiring, "What do you mean she's _got someone_?"

"That blond boy she was with," Sakura stated simply still gazing after them.

Sasuke snorted. "_That_ guy?"

The rosette turned to glare at him. "Yes, _that guy_. Who else do you think I'm talking about?"

Smirk. "Your friend's got pretty bad taste."

Sakura's jaw fell open. "Wha—Who do you think you _are_, insulting my friend like that, you—you"—She searched for a bad word—"_bastard_?"

Sasuke gave a small smirk. "Didn't I tell you that was what my friend called me?"

Sakura blinked. "When did you—" She stopped mid-sentence, remembering what had happened yesterday. She felt her face heat up into an unattractive dark red. "Oh…"

The raven-haired man gave her another smirk. "Hn."

Able to control her blushing, Sakura regained her composure before asking him, "So, I'm guessing that your friend is…"

"The blond one that was with your friend," Sasuke finished for her.

"Oh…" the rosette repeated again, at a loss for words. Silence enfolded onto the both of them for a while until Sakura cleared her throat and said, "I guess you'll see your friend at dinner tonight." She gave a small laugh behind the hand that was still holding Sasuke's camera.

Remembering that she still had it in her hand, Sakura held on to it for a while, still looking through the photographs. Then, one caught her eye: it was of a young girl, sitting in the sunset, staring out at the horizon. She had dark, dark hair that gleamed in the sun's rays of light, her light brown eyes shimmering. "Who's this?" Sakura asked, "Is she a previous lover of yours?"

The raven-haired man gave her one of his famous scowls. "Of course not. Hn. I thought I told you that I don't get into love stories."

"Oh?" Sakura inquired curiously, "and why's that?"

The man turned his onyx orbs to the rosette, looking at her in the eyes before he shrugged. "They're just very clichéd. No originality at all."

"Well, it depends on the love story, don't you think?"

The raven-haired man stayed quiet for a while before answering with a, "I've heard all of them."

It was Sakura's turn to raise an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"Try me."

"Okay…" Sakura looked through her mind to find a good story that she knew. "What about Beauty and the Beast?"

Sasuke smirked. "Girl meets an ugly beast because she has to pay off her father's debt; slowly but surely she looks past the ugliness of his features and falls in love with him. 'Don't judge a book by its cover.'" He turned to look at her. "Got any more?"

Sakura ran through her memory bank. "Um, what about King Thrushbeard?"

The raven-haired man snorted. "A superficial girl needs a husband and she comes across this guy named Thrushbeard. The whole story's about humiliation. 'Course like all stories, it has a happy ending." He gave her an indifferent stare. "Is that all?"

"Um… what about…" Then, an idea struck her. '_He hasn't heard of this one yet_.' Sakura cleared her throat. "What about a story about a girl who doesn't want to be married to a man…"

The raven-haired man, his gaze once directed toward the ocean's horizon, turned to the rosette that sat next to him to look at her. _Really_ look at her. He waited for her to continue her sentence.

"…but she has to. Because…" She gulped down a breath of air. "…because of her family's pressure on her and that she's confused and doesn't know where she can go…" Sakura turned to look at the young man next to her, startled at seeing him stare intensely at her, his onyx eyes burning into her emerald ones. "And then another young man saves her…" A smile started to touch her lips. "…in more ways than one."

They stared at each other for a few moments before Sasuke turned away from her, redirecting his gaze back at the ocean waters. He waited for her to continue. "Is that it?"

The rosette gave a small laugh. "So far." She leaned forward to look at the raven-haired man. "Right now, I'm waiting to see where this is going. It won't be another cliché story. It'll be…" Sakura paused for a moment, thinking of the right words to complete her sentence. "It'll be a story of friendship. About learning about the other person. And I'm sure that it won't turn out to be cliché."

Sasuke stared of into the waves. "Hn…"

"Don't you have anything other to say than that?"

"Hn."

Sakura sighed. "Never mind…" she muttered, letting her emerald eyes gaze into the ocean waters.

Far off, a voice called, "Sakura! Sakura, dear!" A blond woman dashed toward them in richly colored petticoats. "Sakura!"

The rosette stood up when she recognized the woman calling her. "Lady Tsunade!" Sakura proclaimed gleefully in seeing her beloved, older companion. "What are you doing here?"

Lady Tsunade walked the last few steps toward them. She eyed the raven-haired man who now stood next to her rosy-haired friend. "Who's this young man, Sakura?" the blond lady inquired curiously. "I never knew that you were seeing another man."

Sakura blushed. "No! It—it's not like that, m'lady. Surely you're mistaken."

Sasuke looked at his new pink-haired friend with amusement painted on his face.

"Um… this is actually the man who saved me last night. Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke extended a hand toward her wordlessly. Lady Tsunade took it, shaking it with enthusiasm. "Well, it's nice to meet you! Thanks for saving her here. Don't know what I'd do without you."

Sasuke gave a grunt.

"Sakura, dear!" called another voice from behind. A middle-aged brunette woman daintily walked toward the trio, a trail of other ladies following behind. The brunette eyed Sasuke just as Ino had done. The only difference was that in her eyes, there was something more menacing hidden under those green eyes that eerily resembled Sakura's. "Sakura," the middle-aged woman began, "who is _this_?"

"Ah, Mother," Sakura spoke as lady-like as possible. "This young man here is Uchiha Sasuke. The man who saved me last night."

"Ah. It's a pleasure to meet you," the rosette's mother murmured quietly. The elder woman had said it pleasantly as possible and had actually included a small smile, but Sasuke could tell (after years of photographing real smiles) that it really wasn't a pleasure to meet him.

But, instead of pointing out the fakeness of her features, Sasuke simply replied back, "The feeling is mutual," before remaining absolutely quiet.

Silence became the voice of the group of people on the high deck. The tension between Sakura's mother and the raven-haired man heightened every passing second that they stood there in silence, gazing at each other with paranoid watchful eyes.

Sakura, feeling the tension, spoke. "Ah, Mother, shall we go and prepare for dinner?"

Her mother nodded, keeping her steady snake-like gaze on the young man with midnight hair (who kept his own gaze on the rosette) before departing with her daughter into their chambers. The other ladies dispersed, leaving only Ino and the raven-haired man (who's gaze—if I may add—lingered _just a bit_ on the rosette).

After the other ladies had left, the blond elder lady turned to Sasuke. She looked him over. "You aren't coming to the dinner party like _that_, are ya, son?"

Sasuke looked down at himself, grimacing at the little clothes that he had to offer. He looked at Lady Tsunade. "Do you have anything I can borrow?"

Lady Tsunade laughed. "Of course! Here, come over and I'll find something that'll fit you." She ushered for him to follow her to her chamber. When they reached it, the blond elder lady quickly dug out a nice-looking tuxedo from her closet. "Here," she said, handing it to the raven-haired man, "this is my son's. Try it on; see if it'll fit you."

Sasuke quickly thanked her before going into the bathroom to change. When he came out, the blond lady let out a low whistle.

"Wow," Lady Tsunade breathed, "you look terrific!"

And it was true. The tuxedo fitted the raven-haired man perfectly. The sleek blackness of the suit's material was just as dark as the man's hair and eyes, contrasting his pale skin and prominent cheekbones. Sasuke looked at himself in the mirror. He smirked at his reflection before turning to Lady Tsunade. "Thank you for letting me borrow this."

The blond lady shrugged. "It's the least I could do. Now," she continued, resolution shining in her hazel eyes, "let's get to the dinner party!"

**-xxx-**

The two had reached the dining hall on the top deck. It was already evening and the chandeliers shone brightly. The raven-haired man glanced around. No trace of the rosette. His onyx orbs landed on a man who was also holding a lady's hand, her arm looped through his in. His hand was placed behind his back at a ninety-degree angle. Sasuke mimicked his arm, placing it in the same way, his face showing that he was intently eager to learn the ways of the rich.

The clock near the twisting stairway chimed. It was already seven o'clock. The raven-haired man flipped the bangs out of his eyes, looking toward the sound of the chime. That was his first mistake. That was the exact moment that the rosette walked down the stairs. Sasuke's second mistake was to keep looking at her. Sakura was fascinating. Her pink hair seemed to shine in the chandelier lights, her green eyes shining like dark emeralds. She was garbed in an elegant green dress that matched the exact shade of her eyes, her waist narrow. The rosette slowly walked down the steps, her gaze meeting the raven-haired man's. They stood there, looking at each other.

Sakura extended a gloved hand to him. "Hey there, stranger." She gave him a smile.

Sasuke smirked at her before taking her hand and laying a gentle kiss on to it. He watched the rosette's cheeks form deep shades of pink. Smirk. "Hn."

"I thought I told you to add more to that vocabulary of yours."

Sasuke snorted at her remark. "I only kissed your hand because I'd blow my cover otherwise." At the party, it was only the rich people, the people with money bags dripping from their armpits and diamonds from their fingers. Those kind of rich people. And Sasuke, a poor photographer, was pretty sure as hell he didn't have money dripping from his armpits. "I'd be thrown out in a second."

The rosette, realizing the fact that he wasn't _in the club_, nodded in agreement before looping her arm through his. Sasuke, mimicking the man he had seen earlier, put his arm behind him at a ninety-degree angle, walking with Sakura to her mother and her fiancé.

"Mother," Sakura called out. The middle-aged brunette and the other man with midnight hair paused their conversation to turn around at the voice of their _beloved_ Sakura. Neji smiled at her. "Dear, I didn't know you were here!" His gaze slipped to the young man next to her. "Oh, it's you, Uchiha." Neji eyed the onyx-eyed man's ensemble. "You clean up nice. Almost look like you fit in." And with that, Sakura's fiancé took his future mother-in-law's arm and escorted her into the dinner party. A blond lady came up to them. Lady Tsunade, her blond hair tied up elegantly in a bun, smiled at them, before asking Sasuke, "Is there room for another lady?"

Sasuke smirked, extending his arm to her. The trio walked into the dining room where the money-bag people stood around, chatting about their piles of money, how their business was going, or just anything pretty shallow. The raven-haired man glanced around. Everything and everyone looked so… diplomatic and high-class. It almost made Sasuke shrink back in intimidation. _Almost_.

Sakura noticed the young man looking around, his onyx eyes dancing from person to person, analyzing and studying the ways of the Rich. And it looked like he would need a bit of help. The rosette nudged him in the stomach, feeling him wince slightly and glare at her. Sakura ignored his dagger eyes. She pointed over to her best friend Hinata who held the arm of a familiar blond man. "That's Hyuuga Hinata, cousin of my fiancé and my best friend (you saw her earlier). She's been raised as a lady, and Neji's very protective of her."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, but stayed silent. "Aa."

Sakura pointed to another couple. "That over there is Akihiko-san and his consort Junko-san." She put her voice to a low whisper. "Junko's been said to be about thirty years younger than him. His wife is in England right now with the kids. Very scandalous."

The raven-haired man nodded once. His gaze wandered around the room and landed on his blond best friend who had his arm wrapped around Hinata's waist. Naruto gave him a wink from across the room. Sasuke returned a scowl.

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke whipped his head around to meet Sakura's eyes. "Aa," he said to show her that he was listening to every word.

Sakura tugged him along by the arm. "Come on, Sasuke-kun. Dinner's ready and we have to be seated."

Relenting, Sasuke let her drag him along to a table where a large number of people were presently seated. He sat down while he watched Sakura take her seat next to her fiancé. Then he turned his gaze down to his plate—and froze when he saw the multiple utensils. Turning towards Lady Tsunade, he whispered, "Are these all for me?"

"Just start from the outside and move inward," she replied back quietly before turning toward the waiter to place her order.

"Sir?" the waiter then addressed Sasuke as he plopped some black stuff onto his plate. "How would you like your caviar?"

Thinking fast, Sasuke said, "None for me, sir." The feel took some time getting used to, but eventually, Sasuke managed to act like he was rich. All he had to do now was impress other people and then he could slip away to the other party downstairs. That Naruto invited him to, of course.

Yes. Acting rich was easy; it was just the questions that were going to need some work and quick thinking.

"So, Uchiwa-san"—Sasuke twitched at the mispronunciation—"are you related to the Yokuba Uchiwas of the Yokuba company?" asked a curious tablemate.

Sasuke forced a semi-pleasant smile. "Ah, no, not exactly. I'm from the Kyoto Uchihas. Not the Uchiwas."

Of course, Sasuke had just told a big fat lie, but the man—probably stupid and pompous—nodded his head eagerly, absorbing every word as if it were truth. "Oh, well, yes, of course."

'_God, these rich people…_' Sasuke thought, mentally facepalming himself for getting into places like these. Glancing across the table, his eyes fixed on Sakura who was presently sitting and staring at nothing. He watched her, a little despondent by the fact that her eyes seemed to lifeless, so not-shiny. Sasuke felt his heart ache…

Wait. No. _No_. Uchihas did not believe in romance! They didn't love, they didn't ache for anyone! '_Get a grip, man,'_ he told himself. It was ridiculous; Sakura was already an almost-married woman. He shouldn't be in the equation _at all_. It would be shameful, for him and for her. Not to admit, it would cause a huge scandal. But…

Before he could stop it, a thought invaded his mind: '_But it wouldn't hurt to be friends and have some fun_.' Curse his soft side.

Sakura, apparently realizing that Sasuke was staring at her, snapped out of her hypnotic state and put on a smile as if she were reassuring Sasuke that she was fine. When Sasuke simply returned her gaze and held it steady, Sakura broke it off, biting her lip as she turned to her fiancé. "Ah, Neji, dear," she said, "did you know that Sasu—ah, Uchiha-san"—she didn't notice Sasuke scowl her way—"is a photographer?" She faked another smile at her fiancé. "He takes the most beautiful pictures."

Neji nodded his head as he took a drink of his champagne. "Mm, that's nice, dear," he said, checking his watch before he looked up at Sakura, eyeing her. "What about pictures?"

Strain started showing on Sakura's face, but she hid it fairly well. "I was talking about Sasuke-kun's pictures."

Smirk. She didn't even bother hiding her challenge. '_Good girl,_' Sasuke thought.

Neji felt the challenge and looked at his fiancé with a good deal of annoyance. "Hm. Calling other men by their first names already?" Of course he never noticed anything but that.

The rosette sighed. "Neji, _honey_"—insert mental choke from Sakura—"are you jealous?" She looked at Neji with those deep, green eyes, pulling him in like she would any man.

Sasuke watched as Neji smirked. "I'm never jealous. You belong to me, not _them_."

The raven-haired man in front of them turned away from the sight of Sakura staring at her fiancé, retching on the inside with the disgusting sound of Neji's statement. Oh, _God_.

"Uchiha-san," another voice called, interrupting his thoughts and putting him immediately on the spot. The raven-haired man looked toward the source of the voice—Mrs. Haruno. Her green eyes gleamed.

'_She has a plan up her sleeve,_' Sasuke thought, anticipating it.

"Uchiha-san, I was wondering," she cooed, attracting the attention of the rest of the table, "why is it that you travel so much instead of staying in one place like the rest of the rich?"

Hook, line, and sinker. The whole table began murmuring theories and giving Sasuke a few suspicious glances.

Sasuke stared back at her with just as much intensity. "I'd be happy to say so," he replied. He brushed a hand through his hair, trying to look as indifferent and—more importantly—as rich as possible, in good looks and in money. "Traveling to me," he said, "is like exploring life. You go to different places, meet different people, learn different things." He took a sip of his champagne. "You just… play life by ear and take a chance. Everything'll work out."

The murmurs of suspicion changed tides. An older man stood up and raised his glass. "I say, well said, lad!"

Sakura, who Sasuke thought wasn't listening, rose up her own glass and proclaimed, "To taking chances." She stared Sasuke in the eye, her eyes twinkling and the corners of her lips upturned. To his dismay, Sasuke couldn't breathe at the moment.

"To taking chances!" chorused the rest of the table.

Sasuke raised his glass to the rest of them, giving a nod before placing it back down. Across the room, Naruto looked toward him and gestured at his watch.

"_Party downstairs_," Naruto mouthed before he turned away to bid the rest of the people at his table good-bye.

The gentlemen at Sasuke's table started standing up, gathering their coats and pipes. "Off we go to the smoking room, shall we, gentlemen?" asked one of them, walking briskly to said room. The majority of the gentlemen population followed suit.

Neji, not even bidding Sakura good-bye, looked back at Sasuke. He gave him a glance before turning around and saying, "I'm sure _you_ don't need to come, Uchiha." He spat out the name like it was a disease, looking over his shoulder with a gaze of contempt and overbearing arrogance. "We talk about politics and economic problems in the smoking room." Turned his head back. "You wouldn't understand." Off that bastard went, his long, luscious hair swinging behind him.

Sasuke glowered at his back before turning to Sakura. "Thank you for inviting me," he said, keeping his eyes on her.

She smiled at him, a real one this time. "Of course. It's not a problem at all." She looked dazzling, her eyes twinkling in the semi-dim light and her skin practically glowing.

Sasuke looked at her, remembering the thought he had moments ago. It wouldn't really hurt to invite her. He leaned in to her so that his lips were almost kissing the shell of her ear, swearing that he almost felt her shiver. "Want to come to a real party?" he breathed. He felt her nod and continued. "Come down to the third level. I'll be waiting."

And with that, he walked away, falling in step with his blond friend as they descended to the party downstairs.

**-xxx-**

The party was _hectic_. The music pounded, the people screamed, and practically everyone was sweaty. The perfect party. Sasuke sat at the bar, drinking a beer while he watched Naruto dance with that Hinata girl, waiting impatiently for Sakura to come. It wasn't until he saw a flash of pink come down the stairs that he moved from his seat, putting his beer down and walking over to greet her the second time that evening. "Oi, Sakura."

The rosette whipped her head around and met his gaze. "Ah, Sasuke-kun, there you are!" She smiled at him. He wondered why it always got to him.

Distracting himself, he decided to see to Sakura's change of clothes. The deep green evening gown was now gone, replaced by a more simple white cotton dress. Her hair, once tied up meticulously, now flowed past her shoulders. Despite her attempt at trying to downplay her aristocratic-ness, Sasuke decided then that, in an artist's eye, she was beautiful. He watched as her eyes nervously looked toward the crowd of dancing people and then down at her feet.

"Sakura," he said, drawing her attention to him as he cocked an eyebrow at her. "Something wrong?"

She hesitated, staring at him for a while before she said, "Um… I've never danced like this before…" Her cheeks were dusted with a light shade of pink.

Smirk. "Hn. I'll teach you."

Her green eyes glowed at him. "Really?"

"Aa."

She smacked his arm playfully. "Stop using one word answers and I'll consider."

Without a reply, Sasuke took her hand and led her out to the dance floor. She let him lead her, let him take both her hands, let him sway her around and twirl her. He held her as if she were something soft, delicate, as if it were about to break if handled any other way. And she loved it all. '_This is how they're supposed to treat you_,' she told herself, smiling at the stoic young man and running a hand through his hair. '_This is it_.'

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered, looking up at him while he led her. She had always liked dark eyes, especially black ones that shone like obsidians. Namely, ones like Sasuke's. Staring into each others' eyes, they danced oblivious to everyone else. It was official; Sakura was playing a game of Russian Roulette.

On the other side of the room, Naruto danced with Hinata, her head leaning onto his shoulder. She had a small smile on her face, one of pure happiness. She had never felt something like this before—it was all so magical. "Naruto-kun," she whispered, her lips moving against his shirt.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan?" he said back, surprisingly quiet.

"Would"—she buried her face into his shirt—"w-would it be wrong to say that I love you even though…" Hinata hesitated a moment before she continued. "E-even though I've only known you for a short while?"

Naruto stopped breathing. '_God, please pinch me if I'm dreaming_.' No one pinched him. He looked down at the girl with lavender eyes he held in his arms. "Hinata," he breathed, holding her tighter. "No. It's not wrong." A smile. "It's not wrong at all." With that, he leaned down, raised the girl's chin and kissed her sweetly. After pulling away, Naruto grinned sheepishly when he saw Hinata's pink face.

Yes, the party was going well: Naruto, grinning at his raven-haired girl; Hinata, blushing at the kiss; Sasuke, silently enjoying his time with the rosette; and Sakura, not knowing that she was slowly falling for a particular raven-haired man. And the only figure in the room who had noticed it all was slowly climbing back up the steps to tell his master of the news.

**-xxx-**

**Author's note:** WHOO! Sorry I haven't updated this in a long time. ^_^" I was really absorbed with iSakura. Anyways, this is the third chapter. / I watched Titanic last summer with a friend and we both cried. Deliciously fun, wouldn't you say so? :D Anyways, any guesses, Titanic lovers, of what's going to happen?


	4. That's Business

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or Titanic. If I did, Sasuke would be having a nice family with Sakura right now in the manga and Jack Dawson would have never died. D:

**Author's Note:** One of my reviewers held up a good question, so here it is:

_Will Sasuke die in the end based on the Titanic ending?_

Well, let's just say that there certainly will be character deaths—two caused by the sinking, and two by natural causes. I'll put up a poll. Anyway, on with the show! Oh, and **WARNING: **For the people sensitive to these kinds of things, there is going to be some cussing and some—based on how you judge—(semi-)violent scenes.

**Chapter 4**

**That's Business**

**-xxx-**

Sakura came out of the cabin, looking to the sunrise with a smile on her face, dressed in a beautiful morning gown and a matching sunhat. Last night had been the most fun she'd ever had in her life. The dancing, the karaoke singing (her first time, also), and of course, the time she had spent with Sasuke. All of it was so—so magical, so wonderful that she couldn't believe that it had actually happened only a mere day ago. She hugged herself and bit her lip in order to hold back a fit of oncoming giggles. Life was taking such a beautiful turn for her, and Hinata. Yesterday Hinata had told her that she had actually kissed that blond boy she was with—Naruto?—and they had arranged to make a date some time in the future. Her friend had seemed so happy, so full of life again! Still, though, Sakura couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at the conclusion she and Hinata came to…

_Hinata giggled, a pretty blush coloring her face. "Naruto was so romantic, Sakura. Oh, goodness, I was so happy when he told me that he felt the same way…." She sighed and leaned her chin on a hand, looking out of a window and probably thinking about the blond guy she had met only a few days before. Then, she turned back to face her best friend. The tentative smile grew wider as she looked at her friend's face. "I could tell that you were having a wonderful time, too." A gentle smile. _

_ Sakura laughed, running a hand through her pink locks before she joined Hinata in her finger-twiddling routine, something that she never would have done. But there was something… something about Sasuke that made her feel so… _

_ The rosette laughed again. "Sasuke was better than I expected. I mean, he actually treated me like I was a lady, like I wasn't something he could use or make money off of."_ _Her thoughts flew to Neji. _

_ Neji… _

_ Sakura and Hinata turned their gazes toward each other, their eyes meeting and sharing a single thought: _**What if Neji found out…?**

The pink-haired girl stared out into the morning sun, letting the wind whip her hair around. She didn't move from her spot until she heard someone call for her.

"Sakura," spoke a familiar voice, one that almost made her shiver. Almost.

Sakura turned around to face the young man that she was thinking of and smiled. "Sasuke-kun," she said, calling out the surname fondly now, "what are you doing here?"

The raven-haired man shrugged, walking up to where she was to stand next to her by the railing and looked out at the sea.

After a few moments of silence (not the awkward kind), Sasuke, out of his nature, spoke. "Sakura, have you ever thought about what _you_ wanted to do?"

"Wow, an entire sentence—and it's a question!" Sakura teased, giving him a smirk of her own. "Nice job adding to your vocabulary, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke scoffed. "Answer the question, pinky," he said, poking her forehead. "Or should I call you _Billboard Brow_?"

The rosette felt her cheeks warm up and flushed. "Don't add those words to your vocabulary, smartass," she muttered, trying hard to push down the flood of pink that was unfortunately filling up her face.

Sasuke stared at her, at first with semi-wide eyes but then, after seeing her pink face, smirked. "Hn. You told me to add to it." His gaze returned to the waves of the ocean. "Now stop stalling. Answer the question."

Blink, blink. "Eh?"

Sasuke let out an exasperated sigh and turned to look her straight in the eye.

The rosette felt her breath hitch in her throat.

"Sakura," he murmured, soft and deep, "I want to know what you've always wanted to do. What you like to do, what you want to be…" Feeling her eyes bore into his, Sasuke quickly looked away, unable to take the intensity of her gaze with that cheesy little line he just threw out. God, what was wrong with him today? He swore he hadn't felt anything yesterday, but then it seemed like the party with Sakura seemed to throw everything off.

Mentally shaking it off, he turned back to the pinkette, waiting for her answer and for the nagging feeling to go away.

Sakura kept her eyes on him, analyzing every detail about him, unable to help noticing his high cheekbones, his odd (yet fitting) hair, and his dark, obsidian eyes. "What I want to do, huh…" A smile touched her lips. "I don't know. You've been places," she said, giving him a small tap to the arm. "So tell me what I'm missing out on."

Smirk. "A lot of things, actually," he responded, meeting her gaze as best he could. He wanted to face whatever this was head-on instead of running away. "Like, riding a roller coaster. Or a horse." He looked back at her. "And none of that side-saddle stuff."

Her eyes widened tenfold. "Wait a sec, you mean…" She put up a finger and waved it from left to right. "One leg on each side?" The things aristocratic trainings did to her…

Sasuke nodded once. "And experiencing America." He looked back out to sea. "I've actually been to America."

"Really?"

Another nod. "Only once. But I managed to scrape eight years there and fluently learn English." Turned back to her, taking her in. "You're missing out on that, too."

Sakura played with her dress and smiled. "Well, at least I learned how to dance like commoners and experience karaoke, ne, Sasuke-kun?" She let out a melodic laugh as she turned to him. "Oh, and how to drink beer like a man."

The raven-haired man smirked. "Hn. You only took a sip of it. That doesn't count."

Glare. "Shut up, Sasuke-kun." Her gaze wandered to his face, catching how the sun casted bright rays over the normally sullen man's face. It made him seem… _human_. Not that he wasn't, of course (**A/N: **No need for another Edward Cullen *laughs*)—but _human_ in the sense that he actually held and expressed emotion rather than be a solid stick of stoic mass the entirety of his life.

Sasuke didn't notice her eyes on him. "We're finally going to America…" he murmured, more to himself than to her. His lips tilted up slightly in a cruel, sad smile. "I actually kind of miss the place."

She looked up at him. "What was it like?"

Sasuke shifted his glassy gaze to her, slowly beginning to focus. "America… it was interesting." His focus shifted—in, out… in, out. "There were so many people there from every part of the planet. I've only visited California though. That was where I kind of got into photography…" Sasuke turned his head so that he was facing the rosette on his right. And instantly caught his breath.

There it was: the _perfect moment_. With the morning wind whipping her hair about, her slightly unruly hair made her look as if she had just jumped out of a refreshing shower. Her eyes were like green grass, shining with morning dew. Lips were slightly parted and rosy red, a shade or two darker than her hair and her skin was creamy white with the exception of her cheeks which were colored with a natural pinkness. But that wasn't why it was the _perfect moment_. No, her beauty was only the first part of it—it was because of her mysterious expression, the way she looked as if she were pondering something important, as if something were weighing down her mind… and yet… at the same time, she looked at peace, relaxed, as if the whole world wouldn't be able to take her from that meditative state. The emotion that burst with the two clashing factors was _indescribable_ for him, making his heart race and his palms sweat.

Sasuke fumbled with the camera in his pocket, playing with the buttons so that he knew that the flash was turned off. He glanced back at Sakura to make sure she wasn't looking. She hadn't moved. Good. He had to do this fast or else the moment was lost forever. Slowly taking the camera out, he positioned it so that it aimed at her face…

"Sakura? Sakura, dear, are you up here?"

Hearing someone call her name, Sakura snapped out of her dream state and turned around, resuming her trained lady-like position and, to Sasuke's dismay, ruining the perfect moment.

_Fail_.

Sasuke whipped his head around, preparing to glare daggers into whoever-he-was's face so badly that he'd regret _ever_ ruining the moment that he'd wanted to capture—and stopped when he saw Neji.

Neji sauntered across the deck toward Sakura, not before shooting Sasuke a kind of unreadable stare and then proceeding to ignore the raven-haired man. "There you are, Sakura. I was getting worried."

'_Worried about me or about your money?_' Sakura thought, keeping silent.

Sasuke returned his gaze, keeping his eyes on Sakura's fiancé with almost an insolent glare. "Hn," he grunted, choosing to ignore the arrogant and turned to the pink-haired girl. "I have to go, Sakura. See you later." With that, he walked away.

The rosette looked after him, almost wanting to pull him back to her and tell him to never leave. Up until she realized that her fiancé was standing right where Sasuke used to be. She turned back to Neji. "Ah, Neji," she said after moments of awkward silence, "I'm sorry to have you look for me."

Neji just stared at her. His intense gaze made her want to squirm. "Come, Sakura," he said, holding out his arm for her to take. "It's time to go to breakfast."

**-xxx-**

"Hey, get back here!" yelled a security officer at his alleged culprits. He chased after them, trying desperately to catch them on his stubby little legs. After moments of tailing his criminals, he threw up his hands. "Bah," he said, "I'll get them eventually…" Turning around, the officer waddled back to his station to survey the damage and report to his superior.

Behind a large crate, a blond young man and a raven-haired young lady hid, seemly waiting for the officer to be out of hearing range. After the tubby man left, Hinata let out a giggle. "My goodness, Naruto-kun, was that really worth all the trouble?"

With a mischievous grin, Naruto looked around the crate at the damage that he'd done just moments earlier—the red car he had driven through the wall of the cargo hold was still there, covered in rubble. The car and the hole in the wall themselves weren't that bad; it take about a day or two to fix it, but in the mean time, the car would have to be put in a different cargo hold _without_ running through other walls like the Kool-Aid Man. Which would also be a very big hassle.

Naruto snickered. "Oh, yeah. I think it was _very_ worth it."

"You do realize that we'd get in a lot of trouble if that officer had found us," Hinata pointed out, looking up at the blond man.

He grinned at her. "D'aw, don't say stuff like that. At least you experienced being a delinquent, ne?" His grin subsided. Naruto looked at her fondly. "Besides," he said, bending down to meet her eyes and keep the pleasure of seeing his girl blush, "it's a lot better than being stuck in a room all day." Another soft look passed his face. "You need it."

She blushed, trying to look away despite the firm (but gentle) grip Naruto had on her chin. "U-um… N-Naruto-kun…?" God, Naruto always had the power to make her flustered. Which always led to making her stutter.

"Uh-huh?" he answered, concentrating on her shining periwinkle eyes.

Hinata felt her face flush harder. Embarrassed, she tried to pull away once more. No such luck. "Naruto-kun!" Her cheeks puffed up. "What are you doing?"

He laughed a little before he let go of her chin. "Well, I was tryin' to kiss you," Naruto began, turning so that Hinata saw his profile, "buuut, if you don't want me to, then I guess that's okay." The blond boy made a sad puppy face at her, his blue eyes seeming to fill up with tears, and sniffled innocently. "I understand, Hinata-chan."

Of course, no one could be able to resist the classic puppy dog look. Including Hinata. Her eyes widened when she saw Naruto's little puppy dog trick and turned her gaze away, trying not to fall for it all over again. "N-Naruto-kun, it's not going to work…" she mumbled feebly, unable to pull away from the guilt of the puppy dog face.

Knowing that he was slowly winning, he decided to give it another shot, leaning in so that his lips were almost touching Hinata's. "So does this mean that you don't want me, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, acting hurt and innocent even though he was the one cornering her to the wall. He watched as she fidgeted under his gaze.

"N-no, that's not it at all, Naruto-kun!" The moment she looked up at him to beg him otherwise with her eyes, he had swept down to kiss her, holding her when her knees buckled from the sudden act.

God… Naruto made her feel like… like... like she was _special_, like she was worth falling for. The way he held her, spoke to her, _kissed_ her—it was all so kind and respectful and funny that she just couldn't help but love him. She never wanted him to stop loving her, never wanted this to _end_.

"Ahem," voiced a mysterious figure.

In an instant, the two separated, Hinata regaining her composure and Naruto acting as if nothing had happened… well, sort of. The two of them looked toward the new figure who had approached them.

'_Who is this guy?_' Naruto thought, eyeing the guy's bright green suit and shiny bowl cut and large, enthusiastic eyes. Weird… he'd never seen _him_ before.

That was when he noticed that Hinata had visibly relaxed. "Oh, it's you, Lee-san."

_Lee-san?_

"Ah, so it is you, Hinata-san!" said the exuberant bowl-cut headed man. He spoke in sporadic rhythms as if he were trying (without success) to speak in a formal tone. "I did not recognize you there while you were committing such a youthful act!" Lee held out a thumbs-up. "YOSH!"

"Ne, Hinata-chan, who _is_ this guy?" Naruto asked pointedly, not even bothering to be polite.

"Ah, he's Neji-nii-san's butler. He's an enthusiastic person," she said graciously of Lee, even though Lee seemed more than just _enthusiastic._

Lee puffed out his chest. "Well, of course! Someone of _your_ stature"—he looked at Naruto in his not-so-rich state—"should at least recognize a man like me! YOSH!"

Naruto felt a vein pop in his head. '_Why, I oughta—_'

"Lee-san," Hinata stated, saving the green-suited beast from imminent destruction, "What is your business coming here?"

Another thumbs-up sign. "Hyuuga-san has sent for you, Hinata-san! He wishes for your presence for breakfast! Please go immediately to his patio! That is all!" With a bow, Lee gave another "YOSH!" and gave a dynamic exit.

Hinata sighed. '_So much for not wanting it to end…'_ She turned to Naruto. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," she said softly, meeting his gaze. "I have to leave."

He grinned at her. "That's okay! I'll get by, by myself. 'Sides," he continued, giving her a peck on the cheek, "I have the teme to bother, 'member? I'll be fine!" Another grin. "You just go up there and have breakfast with your cousin. I'll try and find you later, 'kay?"

She smiled at him and nodded. "Yes." Giving Naruto a good-bye and a kiss, she left for the patio deck.

**-xxx-**

Up on the patio deck where the breeze was slightly chilly, Sakura and Neji sat at a table that was shrouded in a white, lacy tablecloth. A teapot and sugar cubes were present on the table next to a vase with a single rose. Sakura was mindfully chewing on her last slice of toast, thinking of Sasuke while Neji sipped his tea. They ate in silence until Neji decided to break it.

He cleared his throat. "You were late to bed last night."

"I was with the girls at dinner last night, don't you remember?" Sakura took a sip of her tea.

He glowered at her, keeping his periwinkle eyes steady on the rosette's. "Are you sure you weren't at a party with that man with a rat's nest for hair?"

At the mentioning of Sasuke, she sat ramrod straight. "Sasuke-kun does not have a rat's nest for hair, Neji, and what I do is not your business."

He stared at her, mouth slightly agape. "Not my—not my _business_?" He gave a forced chuckle. "Of course it's my _business_."

"No, Neji, it's not," she countered, taking another bite of toast. "Until we are married, until you are my husband, _then_ it is your business. Right now, you're just my fiancé."

Neji's grip on his tea cup tightened. "Your fia—your fiancé—" He exploded, standing up and throwing both of his hands on the table, knocking over his tea cup. "_Yes_, I am your fiancé!" he shouted, his hair unruly and gross, "_I am your fiancé_, and _as your fiancé_, you should treat me and honor me as if I were already _your husband_!" His eyes took on a feral look, his teeth bared at her.

The rosette, now terrified, clutched the arms of her seat. Sakura had never seen him like this, never seen him so… _angry_.

Neji's hands fisted in the tablecloth. "_Running off and slutting yourself off with another man is _not_ honoring me!_ _If you do that,"_ he spat, looking her right in the eye, "_you are no more than the average _whore." At the last word, Neji flipped over the table, making sure that the teapot and tea cups shattered on the floor.

Sakura sat, frozen to her seat and unable to speak a word.

"Neji-nii-san!" cried a horrified voice.

The two turned to see Hinata approaching. Just before Sakura could yell to her to stop where she was, Hinata spoke.

She looked at them with horrified eyes, especially toward her cousin. "Neji-nii-san, what in the world are you—"

"_You_," he spat at his cousin. He walked up to her with a snarl on his face and struck her, his hand and her cheek making the loudest _smack_ Sakura had ever heard.

Hinata stumbled back from the strength of the blow and held her face in her hands, looking at her cousin with wide, unknowing eyes.

"_You little _whore_,_" he hissed at Hinata, "_Don't you think that I don't know anything about you and that blond boy—_"

"But, Neji-nii-san, I—"

"_Shut up!"_ His voice lowered to a dangerous whisper now. "Don't think that I'm going to let you go and ruin our family's social status by running off and fucking some random money-less white boy." His jaw visibly clenched as he looked from Hinata to Sakura. "I forbid you two to ever see those boys ever again."

Tears were already flowing down his cousin's cheeks. "But, Neji-nii-san…"

"But _nothing_," was his answer. Walking away, the young Hyuuga left the two girls alone.

Hinata's knees buckled and she fell to the ground with a _thump!_, holding her cheek and feeling the sting of her cousin's slap. Oh, how it hurt to know that her cousin now despised her with all his heart and how she could never see Naruto again. She couldn't do that… she _didn't want _to. Her hands trembled at the thought as she put her face into her hands. "No… _no_." Her breaths came in short, needy gasps as she struggled, shaking her head as if she were trying to push away reality. This couldn't be happening… she loved him. She _loved _him. She threw her head up and, for the first time, screamed.

Sakura couldn't speak, couldn't move. All she could do was look around. She watched as Hinata cried dreadfully for the first time, her wails filling the air; she looked at the overturned table and the shattered pieces of china; and she looked at her hands, the ones that she used to dance with Sasuke, the ones that she used to brush his spiky hair back… and particularly, her left hand. The one that held her marriage ring—the ring that held her unwanted future and bound her to Neji. It was then that she could finally move. Slowly, she moved out of her seat and walked mechanically toward her friend, wrapping her arms around Hinata and then, holding her tight, she cried, too.

**-xxx-**

The rays of the sunset poured through the translucent curtains, illuminating the semi-dark cabin besides the meager light. It was time to get ready for dinner, and a certain rosette was getting ready. A maid was pulling on her corset, tightening the strings.

At a hard tug, Sakura winced. She hated these things, even after years of experience with them. She never got why she couldn't wear a regular dress without corsets like normal girls her age did. But then, of course, she was never normal, never a regular girl. Born into a family of rich, her father once the head of a company, she was raised as an aristocrat. Of course, bonds of the rich came along with being the daughter of a rich man, but she had learned to live under it as best she could, holding on while life knocked her around and people pushed her into unwanted positions. Her mind wandered back to the morning episode. She felt something twinge within her—anger, regret, frustration?—and suddenly she wanted to scream and toss everything in the room over the railing and into the sea.

"I'll take over from here." At those words, Sakura felt the maid's hands leave her, replaced by softer ones that weren't used to work; the only things they were used to were tying corsets and holding wealthy men's arms.

'_Mother_,' she thought, holding on to the bedpost as she felt her mother give a harsh tug at the corset's strings.

They stood in silence for a moment. Then, Mrs. Haruno said, "You are never to see that young man again."

The rosette's eyes flew open. She _knew_. "I don't want to marry Neji, Mother," she decided to try, hoping that her mother would be in her defense. Seeing how she knew about the morning episode, anyway, there was a chance that her mother would side with her.

But of course, chances in the real world never really worked out. Mrs. Haruno pulled her by the shoulders and slammed her against the bedpost, her eyes angry, desperate, wild. "Sakura, how could you say that? You know that we're running out of money! This is the only way that we can still retain our wealth!" Her green eyes took on a sad gaze as she stared into hereditary eyes. "How could you be so selfish…?" Bottom lip trembled. "Would you rather see me working as a seamstress or some kind of hooker," she whispered with an underlying hiss, "selling ourselves so that we could live and losing our dignity in the process?"

Sakura looked on at her mother, watching as she took a few steps away, her face out of sight.

When her mother turned around, a new determined gleam shone in her eyes. "No," she said, "I will _not_ let this family go into ruin because of _your_ decisions!"

"Mother—"

"Hurry and get dressed, Sakura." Another look at her daughter. "We have business to attend to." Taking her things, she left the room.

Sakura held herself up by the bedpost, waiting until she couldn't hear her mother's footsteps anymore, and collapsed on her knees. She held her face in her hands, kneeling and looking up emptily at the ceiling. "What did I ever do to deserve this?" she whispered, as she slowly grabbed a pillow. She looked down at it. Her hands clenched in the fabric, and she threw it, pleasuring in the sound of it smacking into the wall. "Damn it all!"

In the midst of her outburst, the door unhinged. Gathering herself and attempting to make herself seem presentable, Sakura stood up and started tying up her hair, getting the random strands of hair out of the way. "Just a minute," she called to the door.

Instead of listening to her, the person behind the door opened it anyway. When Sakura saw him standing in the doorway, she dropped her hands. No use looking good for him anyway. "What is it, Neji?" she muttered, sounding defeated. The spirit in her eyes said otherwise.

Neji smirked cruelly before he stepped into the room, his hands behind his back. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, dearest, but I've decided to give you an early wedding gift."

Sakura nearly had a spastic fit. _Gifts_. Gifts from Neji were always a bad thing. When he gave you gifts, it was like he was giving you a dog chain, showing that he was your master and that he owned you. She looked at the gift he had pulled from behind his back and bit her lip—a square blue box? Definitely looked like some kind of jewelry, but it was too big for a ring and for a bracelet…

"What is that?" Sakura asked, still looking at the box and eyeing the man with a suspicious glare.

Neji waved her to the vanity mirror. "Come, come, sit down." That cruel smirk came onto his face once more. "I shall put it on you myself."

Reluctantly, she sat down, allowing Neji to put his present on… and gaped. "What… oh, my goodness," she managed to breathe. Despite the fact that she despised this man, he had some pretty serious taste in bling.

"Do you like it?" Another smirk. "It's called _La Fleur de la Mer_, otherwise known as the—"

"_Flower of the Sea_," Sakura finished for him. She looked at the green diamonds and admired the way that it twinkled. Respecting its name, it was shaped like a flower—inconspicuously, of course, but by the sharp point of the bottom and the flaring parts near the top, it quite resembled a flower.

"A befitting name, no?" Neji inquired as he stared at Sakura's reflection while Sakura stared at how _humungous_ the rock was.

"Uh-huh…"

"This was passed down from queen to queen in France," he said as if he were reciting something he had previously memorized, "Last worn by Marie Antoinette. They say that the points where made by the jaggedness of the guillotine's blade when it cut off her head."

Sakura ran her hand across the smooth face of the gem and the serrated edges of the finishing. "Really."

"Yes," he said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Yes."

The two stayed there in a moment of silence. Sakura didn't notice Neji lean down at her. It wasn't until she felt his lips on hers that she tensed, fighting the urge to smack him away.

When his lips left her, she looked up at him, watching him cruelly smirk at her. "You're mine now, Sakura. For as long as you live, you shall and always will be…" His face morphed back to his normal stoic self. Hints of a smirk were gone. "I shall see you downstairs for the evening dinner tonight, Sakura." As he was almost out the door, he turned to look back over his shoulder. "And don't be late."

Then, he left her, sitting in front of the vanity mirror, staring at her ring and the jagged flower.

**-xxx-**

**Author's note:** Well… how's Neji to your liking so far? Probably not very… again, sorry to you people who are sensitive to those kind of violent things. Oh, and a heads-up: there shall be a lemon in the chapter with the car scene from Titanic. I shall try my best with it! Wish me luck! And please, review: you are the ones who make me write and I love every minute. :)


	5. Screw It

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or Titanic. If I did, Sasuke would be having a nice family with Sakura right now in the manga and Jack Dawson would have never died. D: Oh, and I don't own Utada Hikaru's version of _Fly Me to the Moon_. :D

**Author's Note:** Alright peoples! This is the moment you've been waiting for! :D This is the part where our "Rose" rebels… and decides to say, "Screw it." ;) There will be a lemon in here (I won't warn you), so if you don't like it… well, then you shouldn't be reading this in the first place, huh? I tried to make it kind of tasteful, so it won't be _that_ kinky. ;) Love you awesome reviewers! :D You make me so very happy. Oh, and for Naruto and Hinata peoples: they will have a few minor scenes in here as a little second plot. :D

**Chapter 5**

**Screw It**

**-xxx-**

Sasuke sat in his cabin, listening to Naruto prattle about how his date with Hinata was a total failure.

"—AND THEN SOME RANDOM DUDE JUST HAD TO JUMP IN WHILE WE WERE KISSING!" His yells subsided to a small mutter. "Stupid, unfashionable green pixie…" Naruto sighed. "We were having so much fun, too." His blue eyes turned to stare emptily at the ground. "Guess not, though. Told me she didn't even want to see me anymore…"

Of course, Sasuke wasn't listening to him, no matter how much Naruto was his best friend. Actually, he was worrying about his _own_ problems, his own feelings. Like what he felt when he was dancing with her last night or why he had the sudden need to capture the way she looked and commit everything to memory every single time he was with her. At first, Sasuke thought it was just his artist's eye coming back to haunt him. But that wasn't it. Artists go around looking for emotion, not sticking to one person and feeding off of them and believing that everything they did was beautiful.

But everything _she_ did _was_. The way she laughed, the way she smiled, the way her eyes twinkled when she laughed _at_ him… all of it. So, why in the world could Sasuke not put a finger on what the hell was going on?

The raven-haired man groaned in frustration, slamming a pillow onto his head.

Naruto looked up from his bottom bunk. "Ne? Sasuke-teme, what's wrong? Somethin' getting to ya?" He jumped on the top bunk in an instant. "Is Sakura ignoring you, too, teme?"

"Shut up, dobe—leave me alone." The pillow muffled his sentences.

The blond couldn't help but grin. "Aw, is somebody a little grumpy-wumpy? C'mon," Naruto said, making little jumps on the bunk, "tell Naruto what's wrong."

A moment's silence before a sigh came from under the pillow. Sasuke took the pillow off his head and looked at his friend, trying best he could to glare daggers at him, trying to look mean and irritated like he usually did. Instead, he looked tired and jaded.

Naruto gave a low whistle. "Whoa, teme, you look uglier than usual."

Sasuke snorted at him. "Sorry I'm not up to your expectations, dobe, but I've got things on my mind."

"Which brings me back to this: _tell me what's goin' on_!"

Stare. Sigh. "It's Sakura."

The blond jumped in his seat on the bunk. "I KNEW IT, DATTEBAYO!"

Sasuke clamped a hand over his mouth. "Shut _up_, dobe. You'll wake everyone up." He removed his hand from the blond's mouth. "Just listen, okay?"

Naruto nodded intensely.

"Alright." He took a deep breath. "I don't know what's going on between me and her. I mean"—he looked to the peeling wallpaper of the cabin and started picking on it absentmindedly—"every time I look at her, it's like I start noticing every little detail about her. I start thinking about her more… Everything about her just seems so…" Sasuke struggled for words. "_Perfect_."

Naruto's eyes widened. He stared at his best friend in silence. "Teme?"

"Hn?"

"You've fallen for her."

At those four words, Sasuke jerked straight up, sitting ramrod straight. In two swift moves, he threw a right hook at his friend's face and had his hands clenched at Naruto's throat. "Don't say that," the raven-haired man hissed. His eyes seemed to take on a reddish glow. "Don't say those stupid words. I've _never _loved someone, and I _never_ will."

"Well, now you're gonna. You know it's true, teme," Naruto managed to say under his best friend's death choke. "Just face it, teme—_you—love—her_." The last three words choked out of Naruto's throat as Sasuke tightened his hold. Despite his lack of air, Naruto stared right into Sasuke's seemingly red eyes, his blue ones determined to make his best friend see the truth. And Naruto saw it—the desperate gleam in Sasuke's eyes, frozen in denial.

And Sasuke saw it, too. He saw it in his best friend's eye; he saw _himself_—the desperate red gleam of denial, his frantic face trying to push away at reality—it was all there. The raven-haired man let go of the blond's neck. As Naruto hacked for air, Sasuke sat there, his eyes wide open. "I…" He looked at his hands. "I love…her." As impossible as it seemed, Sasuke felt the truth in the words—and remembered all the times that he looked at her, wished that he could touch her or whisper in her ear. But… "Naruto," he called to his friend, stopping Naruto in his fourth dramatic gasp for air.

The blond turned towards him. "Hmmmm?"

"There's just one problem."

"And that happens to be…?"

"Sakura's going to be married."

Naruto grabbed Sasuke by his shirt. "WHAT?" he screamed, right up in Sasuke's face. "WHAT D'YOU MEAN SHE'S GOING TO BE _MARRIED_?"

Despite the severity of the situation, Sasuke's eye twitched. "Dobe, do I really have to explain _everything_ to you? It means that she's got a _fiancé_. And she's going to _marry_ him."

"NOT ON MY WATCH SHE IS, DATTEBAYO!" Naruto dropped his vice-like grip from Sasuke's shirt and was prepared to dash out of the door and give whoever-the-hell-her-fiancé was a piece of his mind. Until Sasuke gave him a sound _thump!_ to the head.

"There's nothing you can do about it, dobe," Sasuke muttered. He knew when he was defeated. He couldn't keep chasing for Sakura while she had a fiancé—especially when she had a fiancé like Neji.

Naruto turned his gaze to him, showing Sasuke his stormy cerulean eyes. "No," he said, looking at Sasuke, "No way in _hell_ are you giving up on the one person you _finally_ managed to love. And no way am I _letting _you."

Sasuke jumped down from his top bunk and landed safely on his feet. "Hn. Watch me." He was just about to walk right out of the cabin…

…when Naruto pounced on him. The blond shoved Sasuke's face into the rug floor, managing to hold both of Sasuke's hands behind his back.

The raven-haired man struggled under his friend's weight. "Dobe, get off!"

"Let me tell you one thing, Uchiha," Naruto said.

Sasuke stopped when he didn't hear Naruto call a suffix.

"Let me tell you," Naruto began again, pushing his best friend's head deeper into the rug, "that the girl _I _loved just told me that she never wanted to see me again. That it was 'for the best.'" He grinded his teeth. "You know how that made me feel?"

"Like shit?" Sasuke muffled from the rug.

"HELL YEAH, IT DID!" Naruto kept his hand on the back of Sasuke's head. "I _love_ her, but she apparently couldn't love me because of some frickin' social status of hers, because her cousin told her she couldn't!"

Sasuke froze. '_Cousin?_' The image of Sakura's best friend flashed through his head. '_God, why haven't I thought of it sooner?_' The raven-haired man struggled underneath his friend's grip. "Hey, dobe—"

"SO I'M NOT GIVIN' UP ON YOU, YOU GOT THAT, TEME?"

"Dobe!" Sasuke shouted, shoving the blond off a good few feet away. "Did you say her _cousin_?"

Naruto _hmph_-ed. "Yeah." Blink, blink. "What, what's up?"

He ignored Naruto's question. "Tell me what she looks like."

"Oh, Hinata-chan? Well, let's see…" Naruto put a finger on his lip and let his eyes roam to the ceiling. "She's got this really long, pretty blue-black hair that goes about to her back—oh, and she's got these really pretty lavender-ish eyes, too. And pale skin. But I don't see how that's important."

While Naruto kept rambling on about Hinata, Sasuke stuck onto that one detail: _lavender eyes_. Neji had lavender eyes. Of course they were cousins! "Dobe, I know your girl's cousin."

"Ehh? You DO?" Naruto scratched at his blond hair. "What the hell have _you_ come to?"

"Hn. Just shut up and listen," Sasuke sneered. "Your girl's cousin is Sakura's fiancé."

If Naruto's eyes were big before, they were overtly huge now—to the point of popping out of his head. "Whoa," he breathed. "Mind fuck."

Sasuke ignored his friend's… _momentary_ stupidity. "Your girl—"

"Hinata."

"—_Hinata_ is Sakura's best friend." Sasuke paused so that Naruto would be able to catch up.

3…2…1…

"OOOHHHHHH…" Naruto grinned sheepishly. "So now I get it—I'm guessin' that Sakura's fiancé is holding the both of them back because (1) Sakura is his fiancé and (2) he doesn't want Hinata, his cousin, to run off with me and ruin the family name." Realizing his words, he slumped. "What a jackass."

Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for the Heavens for letting Naruto understand. "Now you get it."

"Yeah," Naruto said quietly, letting his gaze drop to the floor. "I get it now…" Slowly, his head lifted up from his chest. He stared Sasuke right in the eye, a grin crossing his face. "But you're not going to let this get in between what you want, right, teme?"

Sasuke raised his shoulders up and down—almost as if he were shrugging. "Don't know."

"Aw, c'mon, teme," Naruto said, almost pouting, "You finally care for someone other than yourself."

Sasuke snorted. "Sakura's got a fiancé—she's getting _married_. Why can't you just stick it through your thick skull?"

"I'm not getting it through my skull because _you're_ not getting it through _your_ thick skull," Naruto spat right back at him, holding him with deep blue eyes. "I'm gettin' a feeling here that Sakura doesn't exactly love this guy—and I have another feeling that _you know it_." Naruto jabbed a finger at him. "Face it, teme—and if you can't face the facts, then no one can." He got up and brushed himself off. Naruto looked down at the bastard. How in the world could someone be so dense? "Anyway, I'm heading off to tell Hinata that I'm not standing for it… bye, teme." And with that, the blond walked out of the door.

Sasuke sat, still on the floor, still listening to the words his best friend had seemed to pour out of his heart.

_"No way in _hell_ are you giving up on the person you _finally_ managed to love. And no way am I _letting _you."_

A slow smirk crept across his face; his eyes seemed to hold a sad glint. "Hn. That dobe…" Pushing himself off the floor and brushing himself off, Sasuke grabbed his camera and dashed out of the room.

**-xxx-**

Sakura had to mentally sigh. Actually, she wanted to _outright_ sigh, right in the face of her mother, right in the face of stupid Neji, and right in the face of this boring man (apparently he was the builder of the ship) who kept talking about the _Herculean_ as if it were some kind of new sandwich that the world had never seen before. Which was true in a sense, but that didn't mean that Sakura wanted to hear about it _all day long_.

"—and at this rate, the _Herculean_, going at a rate of approximately fifty knots, will reach the shores of America a day _early_, surprising everyone."

Sakura's ears perked at this. "Um, excuse me, Mr. Totsuda?"

The man pivoted on his heel, running a hand through his bushy mustache. "Mm, yes, my dear?"

"Shouldn't you be a little bit more cautious as to run the motors at fifty knots? What if there's to be a collision?"

The impertinent man looked at her—and smiled. And _laughed_. "Oh, ho, my dear! Don't you know that this ship is _unsinkable_? That God _himself_ could not sink this ship?" He ruffled her hair to her disgruntlement. "My dear, you are a saint for worrying—but please, don't worry. It'll all be alright." Walking on ahead, he continued, holding on to the arm of Sakura's mother. "Now then, as I was saying…"

Just as the rosette was about to enjoy a great time glaring daggers into the back of the man's head, she felt someone nudge her. She looked up and glared at him instead. "What is it?" she snarled.

Neji, once holding a smirk on his face, let it fade. "Hmph. Impudent little girl. Don't ask questions like that again." He ran a hand through his long, black hair. "It'll make you—and in the process, _me_—look stupid." Clicking his heels, he walked off to join her mother.

Waiting until the man was out of hearing range, Sakura kicked a nearby barrel. "That rotten prickface," she muttered, "If I had it my way, I'd kick his snooty little ass off this boat with my own two feet."

"Well, it seems as if we've reached an agreement then."

Sakura whipped her head around at the sound of that voice, her eyes widening. "Sasuke…kun?"

Said man stood behind a barrel—it looked like he was hiding from someone—dressed in a sailor suit which he had probably stolen from the supply closet. Despite everything though, it seemed to fit him quite nicely. He gave her one of his slow, heartmelting smirks. "Hn. Missed me already?"

Just as she was about to give him a piece of her mind and a snobby retort, Neji's face flashed in her head. She clamped her mouth shut and sent him a small smile instead. "Ah, I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. But…" She looked from left to right, confirming that Neji and her mother weren't anywhere nearby. '_But just to be sure…_' Taking his arm, she led him into an empty cabin and closed the door behind them. She turned back around to him. '_This may be the last time I can look at him like this…_'

"Sasu—ah, Uchiha-san"—she didn't fail to notice Sasuke's disapproving face—"I apologize for what I'm about to say... but…" She bit her lip, unable to find the words.

Sasuke just stared at her, one eyebrow raised in inquiry.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore."

For once in his life, Sasuke was caught off guard, flooded with emotions he couldn't comprehend. His eyes widened and his breath seemed to catch in his throat. '_What—what is this?'_ he thought. '_Is this how Naruto felt when Hinata—?_' His mind couldn't finish his inner sentence. He felt like lashing out to something, _anything_—which was when he realized that Sakura was still there. '_I knew that she'd never—' _Another mental sentence break. '_Selfish…_' was the only word that registered in Sasuke's mind. '_So selfish…_'

He opened his mouth, ready to spew out the most vicious words, to call her names, to _kill her emotionally_—and stopped. And stared.

Sakura's emerald green eyes, the ones that he had always wanted to lose himself in, the ones that he had always wanted to look at him fondly, were filled to the brim with tears. They threatened to fall, threatened to create lines down her face with their traces. She was biting her lip with everything she had in order to keep them from spilling over and down her cheeks, to keep herself from making a sound.

And then, Sasuke knew.

The fist he had unknowingly made relaxed and fell limply to his side, his eyes softening at the sight. He knew that it was Neji's fault, that the man she was going to marry was the cause of all her suffering. And that she…

"Sakura…" he murmured, watching her struggling to lift her head up and look at him with those eyes. "You are ridiculous." The smirk he normally wore when he was with her was replaced by a small, stiff smile. "I'm not going to keep away from you just because your fiancé tells you to."

Her eyes widened at him. "Sasu—ngh, Uchi—"

"Sasuke-kun," the man said, taking a step toward her. "_You_ call me 'Sasuke-kun.'"

She stared at him. The tears were about to fall. "Sasuke… kun…" She shook her head and looked away. "No, please, Sasuke-kun, please don't make this any harder than it needs to be. I—"

"You," Sasuke interrupted her, gently guiding her face to his to look at him in the eye, "are the most wonderful—_perfect_—most beautiful woman that I have ever met in my entire life."

On every word, another tear fell, another sob escaped from her lips. "Sasuke-kun, please…" she choked out, trying to say something else besides—well, besides _crying_. He was making everything so _hard_ for her, so hard for _him_. "Please, just let me think."

But he wouldn't. Not yet. Instead of leaving in a frenzy like he thought he would, he gave her the same stiff smile. "Fine then," he said softly, still keeping his eyes on her. "Then I'll let you have something to think about."

In one quick movement, he had his lips on hers, hard. It was just a one-sided kiss, one that Sakura wanted to give into because of how much passion there was. She wanted to kiss him back, so badly—but she couldn't. She just…_couldn't_.

Sasuke, feeling the one-sidedness of the kiss, pulled away and gazed at her face, still seeing the teary green eyes in his mind. "Good-bye then, Sakura." He walked toward the door, opened it, and stepped out into the seemingly warm sunlight, but not before leaving her with a few words and a tortured smirk. "I love you." Without another word, he left her in the cabin for her to listen to his disappearing footfalls.

With him gone, Sakura fell down on her knees and held her hands in front of her, the tears falling freely now. "Oh, Sasuke-kun," she said, squeezing her hands to her chest. "Why did you have to say that, you idiot?"

**-xxx-**

Hinata stood by the balcony of her room, gazing out at the rushing waters below. She clutched at the shawl that was meagerly wrapped around her shoulders and shuddered. "I know it's the middle of winter, but it should at least be a little warmer, considering how we're going to the southwest of the United States," Hinata mused, still shivering a little.

"Actually, Hinata-chan, the water's pretty cold for mid-winter and for a trip to Cali."

Hinata gasped and whipped her head around; she'd know that voice anywhere.

"Uh, down here, Hinata-chan."

She looked back over at the balcony. "Naruto-kun?" she said, practically gawking at the blond who was currently hanging over the side of her balcony by his arms and standing on something—she couldn't see—for support. "What are you _doing_?"

The blond grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I was actually going to be like that one dude from Shakespeare's play—Julio or whatever—and recite that passage, but the whole balcony thing didn't work out too great." Another sheepish grin.

The raven-haired girl tried not to blush outright, feeling another stuttering attack coming on. "N-Naruto-kun, p-please! T-that's dangerous!" She leaned over the balcony and saw that there was nothing to support his weight—he was only hanging on by his hands. "Get over here right this instant!"

Naruto shrugged. "Okay then." With some effort, he managed to climb over the side of the balcony and land safely on his feet. He flashed Hinata a toothy grin and a peace sign. "Heh-heh, I win!"

She nearly groaned. '_Oh, Naruto-kun…_' A fond smile graced her lips. "Now then," she began again, "What are you doing here?"

The grin on his face, once large and toothy, disappeared instantly. He turned dead serious. "I came to see you."

Hinata froze at his words. "Naruto-kun, I told you that I don't ever want to see you again." She turned so that he wouldn't see her face.

He wouldn't have any of it; instead, he turned her right back around to face him, to look right in his eyes. "That's a lie," he said, right in her face, "and you know it, Hinata-chan." His blue eyes softened. "I'm not going to give you up because you're lying to yourself."

"Naruto-kun, please—"

"I've fallen so in love with you these past days," he said, cutting her off. "I want you, and I love you so much. You're the only woman I've ever had on my mind like this. It hurts to even _think_ of leaving you." His blue eyes almost seemed to plead with her. "If you really, _truly_ don't want to see me anymore, then say the words." His hands slipped from her shoulders. "I'll never bother you again."

Silence ensued, Hinata stunned and Naruto, determined to have his way.

Hinata looked up into his eyes, his beautiful, cerulean eyes that captured her interest the first time they had met. "Naruto-kun…" Her hands made their way up a shaky path to cup his face.

"Yeah?"

Her lavender eyes seemed to cloud. "I love you." _Plip. Plip. _The tears slid down her cheeks and splashed onto the floor. "So much."

Naruto gathered her up in his arms. "I know," he whispered to her, holding her tight. He pulled away from her, just a bit. Then, leaning down, Naruto caught her lips in a kiss. For just moments it lasted up until he pulled away from her and brushed back her hair. "I love you, Hinata-chan." Capturing her lips once more, he led her into the bedroom where they lost themselves to each other.

**-xxx-**

Sakura sat by a window table with a bunch of her mother's friends and, of course, her mother. Neji had gone off somewhere to do business with Lee (probably talking about investments and crap—_yuck_), so she was left alone with the ladies to suffer countless hours of empty talk.

She tuned into the conversation.

"—and _then_, Mrs. Sayoko decided to tell _me_ that my dress was too wide for my hips, and _I_ said—"

Sakura inwardly sighed. Oh, _God_, how much worse could've it gotten? She watched the old ladies giggle at her mother's story. Her eyes shifted to another table across from her.

It was a fairly simple scene in a rich family: a mother lecturing her daughter about etiquette and supervising the way her handkerchief was placed across her lap like so. Even so though, it made Sakura think. '_I've lived my entire life… like that,'_ she thought, watching the mother scold her little girl. '_My entire life has been planned, constructed, practically written in stone… do I really want to keep going like this?'_

She listened to the idle talk, watched the mindless etiquette, and thought about the engraved future. Her fists clenched. '_No. I can change that future—_my_ future._' Standing up and excusing herself from the table, Sakura, before she walked out of the ladies' talking room, straightened her back and headed toward her destination.

"I want this," she murmured to herself as she dashed down the halls, skirts in hand. "I want _him_."

She finally reached the bow, out of breath and exhausted. Every bit of her words were followed with a deep breath. "Just—a little—farther," she said, wiping the sweat off her brow and holding a hand to shade her eyes, scanning the deck for a certain man. Then, she saw him.

There he was, standing right in front of the sun on the bow, staring out into the orange flickers the sun seemed to paint on the ocean waves. His dark, obsidian eyes gleamed against the sunset's rays, making him look like a thoughtful scholar, and his hair always seemed to rebelliously spiked. The way he stood there, right in the sunlight made her want to touch him to make sure that he was still there, and that he wasn't an angel come to Earth to find her.

As if sensing her presence, the raven-haired man turned and saw her standing there just a few feet away. His eyes widened a fraction. "What are you doing here?"

For that moment, she was about to answer him with an "I don't know," before the image of the little girl daintily placing a napkin in her lap came to mind. She shut her mouth and smiled. "I changed my mind." She walked toward him and stood there, close enough to see the depths of his eyes. "I want to experience things with you."

He just stared at her. What was she thinking? Did her fiancé know about this? He searched for an answer in her eyes—and saw a glimmer of hope. '_She's really doing this on her own_,' he thought, trying to suppress a smirk and failing miserably. "Hn. Glad you changed your mind." He held out a hand. "Come over here."

She took his hand and followed him to the bow.

The wind seemed to rush past her, pushing all the stray hair away from her face. Then, she thought about something and giggled.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, an eyebrow raised.

She giggled again. "I just feel like I'm flying, standing here right in front of the wind." She put her arms straight out and pushed her chest out against the wind. Then, turning her head to Sasuke, she smiled. "Do I look like I'm flying?"

He couldn't help but smirk at her childish actions. Then, an idea struck him. "Not yet." When she frowned, he said, "I can help you, though."

"Really?"

He nodded. "Just close your eyes. And keep your arms out like that."

She obeyed.

"Alright…" Sasuke stood behind her. "Now step up to here," he said, moving her feet to the railings.

The feel of the railings under her feet brought back the thought of her almost-jump off the side of the ship. Abandoning her wingspan pose, she clutched at the railings and froze in fear. "Sasuke-kun—"

"You're going to have to trust me," he answered before he coaxed, "Just let go of the railings." He gently held her waist with his hands. "Trust me."

Biting her lip, Sakura let go of the railing with shaky hands, still feeling the wind against her face. "Okay…"

"Now hold out your arms like you just did."

"You promise you won't let go of me?" she asked, eyes still closed.

"Hn. Just do it."

Slowly, she spread her arms out like a bird with its wings—and felt it. The wind blew against her being, and she felt as if she were flying through the air. The only thing that held her down to Earth were Sasuke's hands, gripping at her waist. She bit back a smile when she felt his hands slide up her back, to her shoulders, and then, to where her hands were.

Sasuke held her hands, keeping her up in the air and steady. "Open your eyes, Sakura."

She felt a surge of panic swarm through her. "But—"

"You're missing out."

She _hmph_-ed. "Fine then…" She slowly opened her eyes, letting the light in slowly to her green irises. And she gasped. The ocean gleamed red and orange in the sunset, the waves creating white foam at the tips. There were clouds in the distance, covering the sun in a purple-orange haze as it prepared to dip under the sea. There was a time where she thought that beauty was jewels and gold and silver, but… seeing _this_, she wasn't so sure anymore. No, that wasn't right—she _was_ sure. She was sure that beauty wasn't in jewels and gold, and that the simple things, things that weren't money, were the most valuable. Things and people…

'_…like Sasuke-kun._' A smile took its place on her face. "Hey, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn?"

"Do you know that one song—_Fly Me to the Moon_ by Utada Hikaru? It was played a lot on the Japanese radios." She turned toward him and looked into his eyes, loving the way that he held her up with his strong arms.

"Aa. That song," he murmured, looking back at her, a small smirk slowly making its way across his face. "How did it go again?"

She let out a small laugh. "I only remember a part of it… Let's see…" Pulling the words out of her memory, she opened her mouth and sang softly: "_Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars. Won't you let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars?_" She kept her eyes on Sasuke as she sang the next part. "_In other words, hold my hand…_"

Sasuke unconsciously closed his hands over hers.

Sakura continued. "_In other words, darling, kiss me…_"

After those last words, there was silence. The two of them stared at each other, obsidian clashing with emerald eyes… until Sakura leaned in slowly and pressed her lips against his. Sasuke, stunned for a moment, couldn't react immediately, but then, he returned it, doing the same and slowly coaxing her mouth open. Their tongues danced, and they lost themselves slowly in one another. Soon, the air was full of their passion for each other, and they had finally, _finally _found in each other what they had never experienced until then: _love_.

**-xxx-**

Sakura stopped speaking for a moment, letting silence hold her captive for once.

The blond man who was interviewing her leaned toward her. "So then what happened?" Alex spoke up, still holding the tape recorder.

"What else would you think?" the ancient lady retorted almost sarcastically.

The audience, previously absent before, leaned toward old Sakura, wondering the same thing everyone else was thinking.

Mr. Alex spoke for them. "Did you guys…?" He gestured with his fingers, sticking a finger inside a hole he made with his index and thumb.

"Of course we did," Grandma Sakura answered frankly, ignoring the effect that the bluntness of her statement did to her granddaughter.

"G-Gramma!" she protested, staring at her with the same green eyes.

"What?" old Sakura replied almost innocently. "We were both young and capable, so of course it was bound to happen."

The granddaughter slumped in her seat, her motherly instincts already telling her that what her grandmother just said was _sooooo_ inappropriate.

"Well then," said Grandma Sakura, glad that she was able to recount a wonderful memory of her life, "Shall we continue?"

**-xxx-**

Sakura led Sasuke back to her suite and closed the door behind them. She smiled, knowing that they would manage to be alone for a while, until Neji and her mother came back, which wouldn't be for another few hours. She turned back to Sasuke and let him take her hand. "Okay, then," she said softly, looking right up into his deep, dark eyes. "We're all alone now."

He slowly pulled her hand up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss upon her knuckles, watching her mouth part slightly and feeling her hand tremble underneath his lips. "So we are." He smirked. "Would you like to dance with me, Sakura?"

The rosette giggled at him. "Why not." Breaking away for a moment, she slipped a CD into the stereo player and pressed play. A slow song played in their native language, casting them away to a merry land. They waltzed around the room, not really listening to the music, but lost in each others' eyes. When Sasuke twirled her around, she laughed and fell into his chest, rubbing her face into his torso. "Oh, Sasuke-kun…"

"Hn." Sasuke held her and let her make him sway with her, just enjoying the bliss of holding her like this. A twinkling in a nearby cabinet caught his eye, and he stopped, letting go of Sakura and clicking the music off. "Sakura, what's that?" he asked monotonously, pointing to the mysterious gleam.

"Oh," she said, walking over and taking something out of the cabinet. Sakura turned and held out her hand. "It's a necklace."

The man's eyebrows raised. "A very big one."

Sakura laughed and played with it on her hand. "It's supposedly the necklace that the French queen Marie Antoinette wore before her execution. It's called _La Fleur de la Mer_, or 'The Flower of the Sea.'" She smiled at him. "Weird, huh?"

"Aa," he simply replied, staring at the gigantic rock. He took the necklace, stepped behind her, and gently clasped the necklace around her, brushing her hair out of the way. "It fits."

She turned around and looked up at him. "The name?"

He had never even thought of that—but then, after a moment, he realized—

"Yes," he murmured, brushing his fingers along her cheek, "It fits _you_."

Somehow, the breath that she had in her throat hitched. Some_why_ she felt like crying, bawling out miserably. Why hadn't she met this man sooner in her life? Why couldn't she have already married this man instead of having to put up with such an abusive fiancé whose only goal in life was to achieve the most money and subjects in the world? Her hand made her way up to the necklace and wrapped around it. '_I'll make up for lost time…_' she thought, her eyes now dropped to the floor. '_…because half of my life has been wasted already._' Looking up to stare at him straight in the eye, she said, as determined and strong as she could, "Sasuke-kun, may I see your camera?"

He raised an eyebrow, but, without another word, handed off his camera, watching as Sakura scrolled through his pictures like she once did.

One by one, Sakura looked at each picture carefully, analyzing the detail of each and every one of his photos, almost as if she were trying to commit them to memory. Naked girls, naked girls, naked girls—father-son picture. '_I wish I could model like them…_' she thought sadly, moving on from photo to photo. Wait. Of course she could model like them. She had renounced her title of "The Engraved Path Follower" and chose to follow her own path, the one that _she_ wanted to take. And this was going to be another step on her own path. "Sasuke-kun?" she said, turning to him and brushing stray pink strands out o her face, "Can you take pictures of me, too?"

Sasuke stared at her in stunned silence, just before recollecting himself and stoically saying, "Aa. Of course." He took the camera from her and pointed the lens toward her, only to be stopped by Sakura's hand against the camera.

She pushed it down gently, away from his face. "That's not what I meant, Sasuke-kun," she murmured, looking away so that he wouldn't see the blush on her face. "I meant that I want you to take a picture of me wearing this…." She gestured to her necklace. "…and only this."

Sasuke soaked the information, feeling another wave of shock stun him into silence. '_She's… wearing that… and only that…_' He felt his heart rate speed up. Dammit…what the hell was wrong with him? He had done this so many times, taken pictures of so many nude women that he should have been used to it—but just at the thought of Sakura without an article of clothing to shroud her body made his mouth go dry. He swallowed to wet his parched throat. "Aa… fine, then. Just… get ready in the restroom." He looked away. "I'll wait out here."

Her bright smile radiated on her face. "Okay!" Without another word, the rosette hurried to the bathroom and closed the door, leaving a nervous raven-haired man on the couch to play with his camera.

**-xxx-**

"Sakura, are you done yet?" Just as Sasuke was about to knock on the door, it flew open—and Sakura stood there, a thin towel wrapped around her body, held up only by her hand. Sasuke could see her naked silhouette through it. He gulped. "Alright," he said, taking her available hand and leading her to the couch that he had made up as her modeling area. He sat her down and, turning on his camera, said, "I'll take a few pictures. After we're done, you'll pick the one you like most, and I'll develop it."

The rosette smiled at him. "Alright then…" Then, she dropped the shroud.

And Sasuke couldn't help but _stare_.

Her body was just as pale as her face, making her seem creamy and angelic; she was slender and small, her waist tiny from years of corseting and her hips semi-wide. The only colors on her entire body were the pinkness of the tips on her breasts and the locks between her legs.

Sasuke felt like he had forgotten how to breathe. He cleared his throat and tugged at the collar on his shirt. Get it together, Sasuke—now was _not_ the time to have naughty thoughts. "Now, Sakura," he began, trying best he could to hide the lusty tone in his voice, "I need you to lie down on the couch among the pillows."

The rosette lay down as delicately as she could, trying to disturb the placement of the pillows as little as possible. "Um… now what?"

The raven-haired man stared at her for a moment, slowly getting into his professional mode. "Look toward me—tilt your head down a little bit—and that hand near your face."

Following his directions, Sakura did as best she could to look like a beautiful, elegant model.

_Click!_

"Hn…" Sasuke muttered, staring at the picture Sakura had just posed in. '_This picture's actually really good…_' He turned back toward her. "You're doing fine," he monotoned, "Just do a few more poses on your own.

The rosette shifted, sitting up with a pillow between her legs, her hair unruly and her lips parted.

_Click!_

The shooting went on, Sakura modeling and laughing while Sasuke _hn_-ed at her and smirked while the camera _click!_-ed. At one point, Sakura had even thrown a pillow at him for commenting on how dirty one of her positions were. Finally, they were finished. The rosette was beyond exhausted, and Sasuke was going over the pictures with her.

"What about this one?" he said for the umpteenth time that evening.

She laughed at him. "You only like that one because I was on my hands and knees."

He smirked. "Hn. Then show me the one that you like."

"Actually, I think the only one that I really liked was my first one," she answered, scrolling to the picture in the beginning where Sasuke had helped her pose. "It's elegant and makes me look really pretty." She smiled at it fondly before handing the camera back to Sasuke.

The raven-haired man looked at her seriously. "You _are_ really pretty…" he murmured, almost hoping that she wouldn't hear him.

But of course, the rosette heard him anyway. Her eyes softened and she crawled over to where Sasuke was, forgetting the fact that her clothes lay hidden elsewhere; the only thing she was wearing around her body was the shroud from earlier. Cupping his face with her hands, she turned his head so that he was staring right at her and, leaning down, she kissed him, soft and sweet. She felt his lips press back against hers, then slanting, forcing her mouth to open for him. She whimpered and complied, feeling his tongue invade her mouth.

Sasuke was so close to losing it now, hearing her whimper softly, feeling her lips against his, knowing that only a small towel separated him from her… _so close_. All he wanted to do was to push her down on the floor and take her, just to listen to her moan his name. But then, he stopped. For all he knew, she wouldn't even _want_ that. That'd basically be _rape_. '_I can't do that,_' he thought, angry at himself,'_Not to her…_' So he did what he could. Gently placing his hands on her shoulders, he broke off the kiss and eased her off of him, hating the confused, lustful look on her face. He cleared his throat and stood up. "I'm going to go develop your picture," he muttered, taking his camera. "It'll only take a few minutes." He trudged off to the bathroom and left a confused (and slightly hurt) Sakura alone.

…

"Oi, Sakura, the developing's done," Sasuke called from the bathroom as he opened the door and waved a now finished photo. "Here," he said, handing her the photo when she walked up to him. "It's yours."

She smiled. "Thank you." Walking across the room, Sakura opened up Neji's safe that they shared, placing the photo in it behind all of Neji's stacks of money. She slammed it shut and, after making sure that it was locked, said, "How about you and I go for a walk, Sasuke-kun?" She cocked her head to one side and smiled.

Sasuke shifted uneasily even though his face betrayed none of his emotions. "Hn…"

"Please, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura pleaded, puppy dog eyes in place.

Twitch, twitch. "Hn," Sasuke said again. "Get something a little warmer to put on."

Sakura laughed. "Yay! Thank you, Sasuke-kun!" Grabbing a small overcoat from the edge of the sofa, she grabbed hold of Sasuke's arm and dashed out of the room.

**-xxx-**

Neji was sitting next to his future mother-in-law and her friends, chattering about his family's business that was currently thriving in America, until he realized something. Something utterly, bitterly important. Excusing himself from the conversation, he turned to his butler. "Lee-san, where is Sakura?"

The young butler's bowl-cut hair seemed to quiver, light reflecting off his shiny do. "Haruno-san, Hyuuga-tono?" said the butler, stalling his master. God, where in the world was that girl? How did he lose her so quickly?

"Yes, Lee-san, my _fiancée_." He spat out the last word contemptuously as if he were stomping the life out of it just like a tiny bug underneath his foot. "Have you any idea where she is?"

"Uh, no, Hyuuga-tono, but I shall look for her immediately!" Giving Neji a quick bow, the effervescent green beast sprinted out of the room in a blur.

Neji grimaced and slumped a little in his seat. '_If that girl is with _him_,_' he thought, almost calculating her every move, '_then it's going to be very bad for me…_' Still, he was far from unruffled. There was _Lee_ out there looking for her, after all, and Lee had always proven himself a capable butler. Sitting up straight in his chair and brushing off his pant legs, Neji rejoined the ladies' conversation and struggled to suppress a smug smirk that threatened to consume his face. '_She won't escape me. I know it._'

**-xxx-**

"Whoa," Sakura breathed, taking in all the sights in the cargo hold. "Look at all this stuff!"

Sasuke sighed. For a rich girl, she didn't exactly go out much, did she? But… at the same time, who could blame her for not knowing the majority of material things out there? She had been locked in a house for most of her life, taught proper manners and that anything a man could do, she couldn't. Technology wasn't exactly available to her, so she never really knew that it existed.

He managed a small smile when she saw her climb into the back of a large red car. Reaching the car in just a few strides, Sasuke opened the door and sat in the front, deciding to play along with Sakura for a while. Hands on the wheel, he pretended to steer. "Where to, my lady?" he drawled, trying to be as monotonous and as sarcastic sounding as possible.

From the backseat, he heard a rustling of her skirts—and in another moment, he felt her lips near his ear. "To the stars," she whispered. With surprising strength and speed, she pulled him from the front seat and into the back, landing just so that he ended up underneath her. Her lips attacked his almost immediately, her hands pulling at his shirt.

A pang of doubt stabbed at Sasuke. He pulled away from her the second time that evening. "Sakura," he muttered, trying to keep his tone far from being lustful, "Do you really want to do this?"

Sakura stared back at him with lustful green eyes. "Yes," she murmured, her hands cupping the sides of his face and pulling him back to her. "I want to… so much." Her eyes pleaded with him. "Please, Sasuke-kun."

_Sasuke-kun_. _Please_. Those two words alone made something in Sasuke snap. In one swift motion, the raven-haired man had her underneath him, her hair flowing out behind her head like a halo of pink. He lowered himself, keeping himself steady on his forearms as he kissed her hungrily, nibbling at her bottom lip and begging for the inside of her mouth with licks of his tongue. Knowing what he wanted, she granted him entrance to her mouth, slanting her lips on his and ran her fingers through his hair.

Sasuke shivered—he had always loved it when she touched his hair like that. Breaking apart the kiss, he moved his lips downward and—not before tangling his fingers in her hair and slowly pulling her head up to expose her creamy neck—ran his tongue along her pulse, admiring how fast her heart was beating. '_It's all for me…_' he thought, feeling himself getting harder at each thought and each of her moans. '_Her reactions are all because of me…_' He bit down, testing the waters.

The rosette jolted and moaned. God, he had already found her weak spot. What else would this man be able to do?

A triumphant smirk claimed Sasuke's face. Sucking and biting at her sensitive spot, he listened to her moan and writhe underneath him. He felt his pants tighten and growled into her neck, making Sakura shiver. Slowly pulling down the simple dress she had donned past her shoulders, Sasuke stopped when her two mounds revealed themselves, the erect pink tips teasing him greatly. Before he could stop himself, his lips had already closed around the hard pink bud while his hand busied itself with her other breast.

Sakura was squirming. She whimpered when she felt him bite and squeeze her nipples at the same time. "Aaahh… Sasuke-kun, please—"

His chuckle interrupted her. "Don't worry, Sakura," he murmured as his lips kissed the valley between her breasts. "You'll get what you want soon enough." With those words, he yanked off the rest of her dress, pulling off her panties, and admiring what was soon going to be his.

The rosette clutched at his hair in anticipation. The sensation burned at her, practically numbing her mind. She could feel her inner thigh region growing wetter by the minute. So she did what she could while Sasuke's lips attacked her body again, unbuttoning his shirt and his pants and sliding them off of him. Her hand accidentally brushed against his member.

He groaned at the pleasure that spiked through him at that simple touch, hurriedly kicking off his pants. "Fine then," he growled, biting Sakura's bottom lip as his fingers trailing down the front of her body, stopping at intervals to twirl around her nipple and finger her navel. "You tease me, I tease you." In one quick movement, he plunged two fingers into her wet core.

At the sharp, intense pleasure, she screamed his name, her back arching from the intense pleasure as she gripped his forearms, her nails digging into his flesh.

An almost sadistic smirk crossed his face as he tortuously pumped his fingers in and out of her, toying with her clit. Two fingers soon became three, slow became fast. His available hand slithered up her side and massaged a breast, giving her swollen nipples a good tweak.

Sakura couldn't think—his fingers, sliding in and out of her, his hand, massaging her breasts and tweaking her nipple—she couldn't do _anything_ with the blinding sensation that was consuming her. All she could do was throw her head back and scream as she came for the first time in her life, a heavy shade of pink flushing her face. She didn't notice Sasuke lowering his already fully naked body down to hers, their hips aligning.

"This'll hurt," he warned her, placing his manhood at her entrance.

Her eyes widened and her face nearly turned completely red. "Wait—"

Cutting off her sentence by crushing his lips to hers, he quickly slid into her, breaking through her barrier. He heard her muffled scream behind her lips. Keeping himself inside of her, he kept kissing her, kissing at her tears and hoping that the salty droplets of water would go away—they stung at him so much that he didn't want to move. "It's okay," he murmured, giving her another kiss. "It's okay."

Slowly, the pain ebbed away. Sakura's cries died down to small, almost inaudible whimpers. "Sasuke-kun…"

The way she whispered her name made Sasuke grit his teeth. If he wasn't going to move soon, he was going to _explode_. Slowly, teasingly, Sasuke pulled out of her—and slammed back in. He kept going, going, going…

Sakura felt like she was going to burst—it felt so _good_ to be under him, to be so close to the man she truly loved and feel him inside of her like this. Her hands grabbed on to the leather seats of the car as she started to thrust her hips to his, moving in time. "Oh, Sasuke-kun..." Her breathing was becoming harsher with every move… and she felt it coming. Another moan ripped out of her throat at a harsh thrust. Just as she felt another wave of pleasure coming on, Sasuke, without stopping their rhythm, pulled her up to his chest while he sat back against a steam-covered window. He slowed down and teased her entrance with his finger, smirking when she whined.

She was so close, so _close_. "Sasuke-kun… please, I need you," she panted, staring into his black, lustful eyes.

He smirked, grabbing her butt and raising her up to drop her back down on his member.

She threw her head back and moaned.

"If you need it," he said huskily, blowing in her ear as he rubbed her sensitive area, "then ride me."

And she did, her moans and screams ripping from her throat while she pleasured them both, moving faster and faster each time. Her hands were everywhere, from his neck to his hair, and then finally coming to rest on her hips as she thrust herself against him.

Then, they felt it, the explosion of pleasure and the white light behind their eyes.

Sakura screamed, riding her release on Sasuke. She needed something, _anything_ to hold on to—and one of her hands met the window. Slowly, the pleasure ebbed away, and her hand slid down, down the steamed glass, leaving a hand-shaped print.

The two of them lay on the seats, staring at each other. Sasuke gazed at the rosette's flushed face—and felt himself be flooded with emotions. He felt like he wanted to commit everything about her right that instant to memory: the way her skin seemed to glow from their intense love making, her rosy red lips that were swollen from kissing him… and always, her hair and eyes that seemed to make her seem like the unearthly being she was. Wrapping his arms around her tiny waist, he pulled her close and kissed her, soft and sweet, feeling her tremble underneath his lips.

"Sasuke-kun…" she murmured into his chest, stroking his arms. "Can you say those words again?"

His arms unconsciously wrapped around her a little tighter. "Aa," he answered, trailing soft kisses down the side of her face to her ear.

She waited—then she listened—then she cried. "Sasuke-kun…" The tears rolled down her face, clearing her eyes so that she could look up at him and hold his face in her hands and kiss him back for those three words he said to her.

Kissing away her tears, he told her those words again, the words that affected her so much, and the ones he never thought he'd ever use.

"I love you, Sakura."

**-xxx-**

**Author's note:** (cries) Well, I think I totally failed that lemon… =_= Totally, epicly failed. XD Anyways, enough about that…

From this point on, _Herculean_'s plot will deviate a little bit from _Titanic_'s. :) Oh, and a song that everyone should listen to… if you ever love a cute piano song that will get your hopes up again, type in _Serenade Fruits Basket Piano Full version_ on Youtube. :) The full version should be about 4:42 minutes. ^_^ Anyways, please review! Thanks for reading, one and all… and may you all be able to wait for the finale of _Herculean_. ;)


	6. Once Upon an Ending

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or Titanic. :D

**Author's note:** Welcome back, Titanic and SasuSaku/NaruHina lovers! :D I bid you hello! Ha-ha. Well, then. So, I'm sorry for not updating this for a while… x_x It's been MONTHS since my last post, I admit, but it was because I was writing my now complete iSakura… and writing various oneshots. :D Those who are reading this and haven't heard of iSakura, please do give it a chance in the future, okay? I'd love to hear some more comments on it. ^_^ Anyways, now, it's time for the moment we've all been waiting for… the final chapter. No epilogue for this because epilogues in Titanic are non-existent. I repeat: _This is the last chapter of Herculean_.

Thank you one and all for reading! :) You've made me so happy with your reviews. I will give a proper thanks to all the readers who have reviewed this story at the end of this final chapter. Love you, all. :)

**Chapter 6**

**Once Upon an Ending**

**-xxx-**

Everyone on board had noticed it to be a strangely cold night, one that the ship's captain had deemed as "a freak winter," especially for California. People's breaths were seen in the air, creating puffs of warm clouds before the little mini clouds dispersed into the cold night air. It was a quiet night. The ship was going as fast as she could, slicing through the water at a breakneck pace. The watchers were half-asleep. And no one—not a single soul—anticipated the coming terrors of that night.

—

It was an hour since Hyuuga-tono had sent him off to scout for the two youths, and Lee was not having any luck at all. He scrunched his bushy eyebrows together as he bounced through the halls in his green suit, his bowl cut bouncing frantically. Every now and then, he would stop a person and ask them if they'd seen a girl with pink hair around. Most of them had shaken their heads or simply stare at him for a moment before walking away, muttering some very nasty words under their breath.

The young man exhaled a gigantic sigh and clutched at his hair. "Oh, if I can't find Sakura-san, Hyuuga-tono is going to be very, very angry at me!" He shook it off and put a thumbs up in the air. "No, I cannot think of that! I shall just ask for a constable's help!"

"_My_ help, good sir?"

Lee turned to find a security guard next to him and clapped eagerly. "Oh, yes! Thank you so much, constable-san!" He bowed deeply, making the guard flustered before he sprung back up into the erect position that Hyuuga-tono had demanded he keep up in order to be formal and butler-like. "I'd be so very thankful to you if you help me find my master's fiancée."

The constable leaned toward the green-clad butler. "A description would aid me much, good sir."

If it were even possible, Lee stood even straighter and nodded once with a pompous air that only his tono could have taught him. "Then I shall give it to you!" He clicked his heels once and spoke. "The girl that we are looking for is a small, petite Japanese girl with pink hair and green eyes. I am youthfully positive that she is around with a black-haired boy."

"Oh!" the constable exclaimed, his hands flying up to his mouth. "I've seen her then!" He pointed down a path that led to a nearby storage room. "And him! They both walked to that room over there."

"_Yosh_!" Lee shouted, assuming his nice guy pose again before taking the other man's arm and pulling him toward the said storage room. "I shall not disappoint Hyuuga-tono!"

When they both reached the storage room, they stopped and walked calmly, careful not to alert the two possible people inside of the room. Ironically, Lee remembered that this was the same storage area that he had found Hinata-san and that idiot blond boy with her. Feh. Peasants. Trying to up their social status by marrying an innocent, wealthy young lady. It made Lee's youthful blood _burn_ (or was the correct youthful term _boil_?).

Lee narrowed his circular eyes when he saw a suspicious-looking car…

…that was oddly fogged over on the windows and had a female's handprint right on a certain glass.

Ooh, how that made Lee want to stomp his foot! Hyuuga-tono would be _furious_ once he found out what that little pink whore was doing behind his back! But then again, she was such a pretty pink whore… so soft-looking and gentle and kind…

Lee mentally shook himself. No! Now was not the time to be thinking about the youthful beauty and charms of Haruno-san! Slowly, he crept toward the red car, beckoning for the constable to come with him. "From the looks of that fresh, youthful handprint on the glass," Lee murmured not-so-softly to himself, "it seems as if the two are still inside." He turned to the constable. "On the count of three, constable-san, we shall swing both doors open as to capture them on either side to prevent their escape!"

The constable nodded, making his way to the other side of the red car in utter surreptiousness.

"One…" Lee's green-gloved fingers reached toward the handle. "Two…" He turned it. "_Three!_" And flung the door open, letting the steam of the car from the inside out and expecting to see two very naked, very _ashamed_, very—

"Oh, how not-very-youthful!"

—not-so-existent people lying in the midst of the leather car seats.

Lee went frantic. What would Hyuuga-tono say? Oh, dear, oh dear!

He turned once more to the constable, now fearing for his life. "Constable-san!" he shouted, his shiny bowl-cut quivering on his head. "We must find them! Will you assist me?"

The constable bowed. "_Hai_, good sir."

Almost shaking in relief and in fear, he grabbed the surprised and confused constable by the hand and pulled him out of the storage room. "I shall find you, Haruno-san!"

**-xxx-**

One of the watchers, shivering and practically bleeding fluids out of his nose, coughed into his hands. Sure, it was disgusting; but any movement, any sort of friction seemed promising for him, any hope for finding heat. He rubbed his hands together. "So fucking cold…"

The other watcher laughed and slapped a hard hand on his shoulder. "I'm guessing you're not used to the cold."

He barked a dry laugh at his friend in response. "I'm sure none of us are used to this fucking cold." He puffed into his hands, watching the air from his breath materialize in the air before muttering more obscene explicatives at the cold. "It's so damn cold that you can even see the water on the ocean."

He was right. It seemed as if the air from his lungs had scattered across the seawaters, casting a stubborn, ominous fog that refused to let anyone see behind its iron-like, water vapor curtains. It crawled toward them sluggishly as if beckoning for attention, coaxing it to roll right into the unknown. At the speed they were going at, they had already cut through the first layer of fog, inching faster and faster toward the second layer, the third…

"C'mon, Toshi—our job ain't half bad." Another pat on the back. "How 'bout this? We can play a little bit of cards and smoke some cigs to make sure that you stay warm and entertained. How's that?"

Toshi, accepting a cigarette from his friend, smirked. "A'right. Let's do this." With the cards laid out and the cigarettes in their mouths, they played and smoked, too involved in their game to notice the dangerous that lay up ahead.

**-xxx-**

Sakura laughed as she felt Sasuke nuzzle her neck affectionately, pushing him slightly away to make sure that that crazy, green-jump-suited butler and the constable were well away. Their footsteps had been gone about two minutes ago, but the two of them had stayed in their place, waiting it out until everything was completely calm and quiet. When no sign of their pursuers came back up, they stood up, brushed themselves off, and made their way out of the storage room with Sakura smiling at him while he kept a poker face, the only sign of his emotions and his feelings for her seen in the subtle touches he gave her and a small, almost undetectable twirk of the corners of his lips.

They went up to the deck where they had been, where Sasuke had held her in her little airplane pose and where they had their first kiss before they went to Sakura's suite, danced, and made love in the storage room's car.

Sakura felt her heart flutter at the thought that she had just come out of his embrace; but at the same time, she was worried and frightened. Neji was bound to find out that she had given herself to Sasuke, and her mother would be nothing less than furious. She would lose everything she'd ever known.

She smiled a little to herself, pressing herself closer to Sasuke. It wouldn't matter anyway. She had never wanted to have everything—everything for her now was Sasuke.

Noticing her breathy sigh and how she shivered, Sasuke smirked and pulled her into his arms before he tilted her chin up and captured her lips in a hot, melting kiss.

She replied eagerly, letting her lips part slightly for his tongue to come into her cavern and explore her. A small moan left her mouth, and she pressed herself into him, letting him hold her. Desperation kept its hold on her as she kept her hold on him.

He eased up on her, pulling back and giving her bruised lips a gentle kiss in understanding before he stroked the back of her head with a large hand, chuckling at her whimper when he brushed a hand under the side of her breast.

The watchers, smoking and playing their cards, glanced down at them and chuckled to themselves at the young ones.

"They're probably warmer than we are, ne, Toshi?"

The watchman chuckled as he placed down an ace of spades, smirking at his friend's disappointed groan before he looked out at the dark ocean, checking the waters. His eyes began to widen.

"Eh? Toshi?"

Clattering from his seat, he rubbed at his eyes and looked toward the ocean. His mouth dropped. The cigarette fell down the side of the ship and into the ocean without a sound.

A large, looming iceberg pushed the foggy curtains aside, revealing itself in all its frightening, slick glory. The fog around them seemed to capture the ship in a malevolent hold, almost guiding it toward the god-defying block of ice. And that's what the ship did.

It headed right toward the iceberg.

Toshi dashed past the table, slinging the contents about, his hands shaking. He turned to his friend frantically, seeing the bell within his sights. "Ring that motherfucker!"

He held the receiver up to his ears. "Captain?"

"_Hello? This is the Captain._"

The watchman tried to keep his voice calm, his eyes following the ship's break necking pace and counting the number of waves till inevitable impact. "Captain, please send orders to slow the ship down. We're headed straight towards an iceberg."

The last word loomed in the air; it was a captain's worst nightmare. "_I'll give the order immediately_."

_Click_.

The watchman set the phone down upon the overturned table. Then, watching the looming iceberg in the distance, he silently prayed.

And waited for disaster to strike.

**-xxx-**

The Captain was at his wheel, keeping it locked in a left-hooked turn. The iceberg was already so close. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face as he willed the titanic ship to move to no avail. Just as it seemed as if the iceberg would slam into his ship head on, the giant inched leftward, lagging slightly to the Captain's wheel.

He almost cried out for joy.

Until he heard a sickening scraping of ice against metal that could have been compared to guns spitting out Morse code.

**-xxx-**

When Sasuke had seen the iceberg looming in the distance and the way the monstrous ship barely managed to turn at the last minute, he knew that they were going to collide. With swift hands, he broke his embrace with Sakura, leading her away from the side of the ship and trying to block out her screams of terror as chunks of ice crashed to the deck.

She clung to him, shivering from the cold and the bitter realization that came over her. The ship had crashed into an iceberg—it was going to _sink_.

And all of them were going to die.

She didn't want that. Oh, _God_—not when she didn't even get to live a life with Sasuke or tell her mother off or ride a horse without sidesaddling—

"There! Here, sir, I've found them!"

In the midst of running from the iceberg and into the hallway of suites, they had run into Lee and his right-hand constable.

Sakura stared at the other end of the hallway, her breath coming in short pants. Lee was here; Neji had sent him to fetch her. And by Lee's side was a police officer. Taking Sasuke's hand, she pulled him along, not knowing where to take him as she pushed the frantic crew members out of her way, vaguely hearing them talking about the ship's critical condition with passengers and making sure that everyone had a life jacket.

Without a word, Sasuke let her lead, keeping a tight grip on her hand. They had managed to run down to the higher levels before someone tackled him. His breath caught in his throat, turning frantic when he felt someone's arms rein him in a restraining hold. He bucked and kicked and grunted. His eyes found Sakura, held tightly by a very unattractive young man in a green suit. Sasuke felt his blood run faster. He kicked harder. "You fuckers! Let her go!"

The two men who were restraining him grunted in pain at his attempts of escape.

"Sakura-san! I've come for you!" Lee proclaimed, dragging the flailing woman along with him, back down the hall to Hyuuga-tono's suite. "Hyuuga-tono has been looking for you!"

"Let go of me, Lee!" The tears rolled down her face, tears of frustration and anger. No! She didn't want this! He had to let her go! She let herself go limp and sobbed. "Please, Lee…"

Hyuuga-tono had warned of him of her womanly charms. As much as Lee wanted to let her go and desperately make her happy, he resisted such the urge. It would not be youthful if Hyuuga-tono had found out that he had blatantly disobeyed orders. Mustering all of his strength, Lee managed to tug Sakura through the door of the suite and sit her down.

The young man, however, proved to be a more difficult problem. Lee provided his assistance, effectively holding him until he got Chicken-Butt-Haired-Man through the door.

Then, sitting still, Lee waited for his master, congratulating himself on a job well-done.

**-xxx-**

The Captain barged into the shipmaker's room. "What's going to happen, Totsuda-san?"

Totsuda-san sat at his table, eyes dejected as he scanned the blueprint of the ship. His finger trembled as he grazed the point of impact—the lower part of the ship. He circled it. "That part is the point of impact," he murmured to himself. "The gulls."

"Yes?" the Captain pushed.

Totsuda's finger seemed to hover. "Once the lower gulls fill with water, it will weigh down the lower side of the ship, causing it to slant in the water." Totsuda's hand slowly emphasized the sloping movement of the ship. "With all that pressure, the ship will break in half. One half will sink. The other will bob before it joins the other half."

Silence. Totsuda-san turned to look at his Captain. "Order an immediate evacuation."

The clock in the corner seemed to tick ominously. _Tick… tock… tick…_

"We only have two hours before the ship will sink."

**-xxx-**

"The Captain has just called for an immediate evacuation!" called the supervisor to the crew members.

They all froze in their spots. "But we don't have a clear evacuation plan!" one protested.

That was right. They didn't. All had assumed that such a ship had been unsinkable. It would have been useless to include an evacuation plan with a ship that could not sink—or so they thought…

The supervisor quickly improvised. "There will be two teams set out: one team will warn the passengers of the critical condition and make sure that each cabin has life jackets; another will be set on evacuating the people into the lifeboats."

"But, sir, there aren't enough lifeboats!"

"Then evacuate the women and children first!" snapped the supervisor. "Whatever you do, get them off first—have a crew member on each boat as well as to guide the boats." He swallowed solemnly. "And please, Godspeed to you all." He crossed himself. And sent the crew off to fend for their lives.

**-xxx- **

Sakura cried out in pain, her head whipping back and forth at Neji's strikes. She bit her lip, not wanting to cry out—but every single time his hand came upon her, it hurt. And she yelped.

"Little whore," he said, spreading her thighs viciously. He settled himself in between her legs, kneeling in front of her before he gave her a cruel smirk. "He's already touched you here, hasn't he?" His hands trailed closer to her core, his thumbs pressing into her thighs, sure to leave bruises.

She panicked, about to reach out and strike him before she realized that her hands were firmly tied behind her back. "Neji, stop!" She cried out when he pressed harder on her thighs and tried to close her legs, only to have him force them open once more.

"Hmm… the whore decides to speak to me, eh?" His lavender eyes went cold. "I'll show you never to mess with me again once I'm done with you."

Sasuke felt the bloodlust consume him; he couldn't say anything, couldn't scream anything. All he saw was tinted red and felt his blood boiling to his peak. His hands were on _her_—Sakura was _his_, not Neji's. Never Neji's; he was treating her so wrong that it _hurt_. '_Don't touch her_,' he thought, frantic and afraid for her. "Don't _touch_ her!" So when he saw Neji touching her, calling her things she was not, he absolutely lost it.

He lunged for him, breaking from the hold of the three men to tackle Neji to the ground. Sasuke reeled and arm back and threw a punch at the other man's face, effectively giving him a broken nose and messing up his _precious_ hair. And, once he had given him one punch, he couldn't stop. The bloodlust kept coming, the punches coming from him again and again. Sasuke barely noticed the other men trying to stop him.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Another punch. Sasuke sneered down at the man, stabbing him with icy, blood-red eyes before pulling the bruised Neji up to him by the collar. "This is what you get for messing with her." He jarred him another time. "For _touching_ her." Another one. "For _hurting _her."

"_Sasuke-kun, stop!_"

And he heard her. Heard her voice through his haze of bloodlust. Stopped. Stared down at his work—the bruised, almost unconscious man. Sasuke stopped breathing—he slowly put Neji down. And turned to look at Sakura.

The tears, once of frustration and fear, were of sadness and slight relief. Her green eyes were red around the rims, cheeks flushed and lips pressed together tightly. "Sasuke-kun, please don't do that to him."

He didn't say anything, only giving her a look of frustration and confusion.

"I know that he touched me, and that was wrong," she said, making a gesture for him to come closer to her. A sad smile. "But that doesn't mean that you should kill him."

Sasuke huffed. Wrapped his arms around her. Untied her. And let his head drop heavily onto her shoulder.

And she understood. She smiled, let her own arms wrap around his neck as she ran her fingers through his hair. "It's okay."

Lee watched them, letting the other two men tend to his master. He pivoted away from the scene and stared, his mouth set in a grim line as his round eyes traced the floor. For once, he felt not-so-youthful. How could he have done this to them? How could he have tried to rip Sakura-san from her happiness and forced her into Neji's grip? He knew that what Sakura did was wrong, but what Neji had tried to do was worse. It soiled his youthfulness as a man—and as his master.

Neji finally came to, sitting up and brushing the other two off of him, standing up abruptly only to stagger on his two legs. He heaved a good couple breaths before he turned his sharp gaze at Sasuke. "You, idiot!" he barked, stalking up to Sasuke. "You reckless, _conniving_—"

"Hyuuga-sama!" A crew member appeared at the door, sweating from exertion. He had a white life-jacket on. "Hyuuga-sama, you must hurry! Please leave all your things and grab your life-jackets—we have to evacuate immediately!"

"What's the rush?" Neji snapped back, angry at everyone for butting into his life. "Can't you see that I'm busy here?"

"The ship is about to sink!" The calmness that should have been on his face broke. His panic was set loose, crazing his eyes and face and making his hands tremble. "You wanna stay here and _die_? That's fine with me—I'm getting _off_ of this ship!" Taking his hands off the doorframe, he staggered for a moment before he dashed away, letting the sound of his footsteps die behind him.

Neji's gaze snapped to Sakura. Then back. A small smirk crossed his face. If he could get her off the boat _and_ himself _and _make sure that the kid with wretched hair died, he'd have Sakura all to himself. No more complications, and just a life of leisure and hot sex. Of course, he'd have Lee dispose of him…

He turned to his right-hand man. "Lee, will you escort Uchiha-san out first?" A forced smile. "I'd like for him to have the one of the first seats in the lifeboats." He leaned toward Lee and muttered, "Get the Uchiha out of my sights. Put him somewhere that I can't find him and where he will _drown_."

Lee's breath almost shook. He wanted to shake his head. Wanted to tell him no. But, Hyuuga-tono—young master Neji—was his master. There was nothing he could do about it. So, instead of following his head and doing what he thought was right, he nodded, swallowing the thick lump in his throat as he fixed his green suit. "Understood, Hyuuga-tono." He turned to the raven-haired man, giving him a stiff grin before he took his arm and said, "Right this way, Uchiha-san."

"Wait, Lee-san, where are you taking him?" Sakura asked, reaching out to Sasuke before Lee placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It is going to be okay, Sakura-san," he replied in his stiff, polite way of speaking. He squeezed her shoulder. "You will be safe soon enough." Then, taking Sasuke by the arm once more, he led him out of the room and down a hallway and disappeared.

**-xxx-**

The walk down to the bottom floor was short and sweet. Sasuke went without a word or a struggle, to Lee's surprise. When Lee pushed him into the small, blanched room, Sasuke didn't resist. It drove Lee crazy. "Sir, why are you not fighting me?" Lee asked, his bushy eyebrows furrowing into each other. "Do you not want to resist?"

Sasuke looked at him straight in the eye, letting Lee see the honesty and youth that were so well hidden in his obsidian orbs. "I'm not resisting you," he said, barely moving his lips, "because you have made no effort to force me to resist you."

And that was when Lee knew. '_He knew_.'

A flurry of frantic people stumbled down the hall, shouting at the others to prepare to go to the lifeboats while the two stood there, halfway in the room and halfway out of it.

"So you knew," Lee said. He grinned and held up a thumbs-up. "Then that saves me work!"

Sasuke smirked. "Hn. Guess it did." The stoic mask took its place once more. "Thank you for understanding, Lee."

"There is nothing to it." Lee gave him a very sad, sad smile. "Sakura-san would be very sad without you." The sound of rushing waves began to grow louder.

"Shit!" Sasuke yanked Lee out of the room just as the sea waters burst through the windows in a blast of glass and saline. He pulled the green-suited man down the hallway, his feet pattering the hallway with staccato bursts of leather against water. "C'mon, Lee," Sasuke shouted over the roar of the stampeding waves. "We have to get out of here."

Lee nodded. "For Sakura-san."

'_Yes,_' Sasuke thought, his legs carrying him through the hallways. '_For Sakura._'

**-xxx-**

When they had felt the boat rock to a tilt, they knew that something had gone wrong.

"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata murmured as she held herself to him, whimpering as she felt him touch her. "Did you feel that?"

He stopped moving. "Yeah," he said, panting. "There's something wrong with the ship." Just as he was about to stand up to dress and find out the problem, Hinata tugged at his hand, gazing up at him with those beautiful lavender eyes. "Hinata-chan?"

"Please don't go, Naruto-kun," she said, pleading with her eyes. She looked beautiful and tired from their love-making earlier—she still even looked a little excited from the session that Naruto was about to start before they felt the ship rock uncomfortably.

"Hinata-chan…" He sat back down on the bed and gathered her up in his arms, holding her while he stroked the soft, pale skin of her back and played with the ends of her hair. It felt nice to just sit like that and just hold each other, not caring about the outside world. The endless peace…

"I have a feeling something hit the ship," Hinata said, her voice a mere whisper as she pressed herself deeper into her lover's body. "An iceberg."

"I had the same thoughts." Naruto draped more of the blankets over her when he felt her trembling against him. As he continued to rub her back, a silent, unanswered question loomed in the air:

What should they do?

Hinata buried her face into his shoulder. The tears seemed to come back twice as fast. What _should_ they do? If they managed to escape off the boats and get rescued onto another ship, Hinata would simply go back to being held under the Hyuugas' wings, hidden in a corrupt cage where only spectators of the filthy rich could touch her and visit her. And Naruto, the funny, blond-haired boy, would be reduced to nothing but dirt—whether be literally or figuratively, the Hyuugas could manage to create both happenstances.

And that would kill her.

Her hands fisted in Naruto's shirt that was loosely draped over his shoulders, and Hinata buried her head into his chest once more. "Whatever happens, I want to end with you," she said, choking on a sob.

In that one simple murmur, Naruto understood. He gave her a soft, sad smile. "Me too, dattebayo," he said as he wiped the tears away from her face and pressed his lips to hers in a soft caress. His blue eyes held her heart as his arms held her body. As he kissed her neck and pressed her down into the bed, he knew that within another hour, _the ship would sink_…

A soft, uninhibited moan.

More kisses, more touches, more loving.

She cried. "Na-_Naruto_-_kun_!"

Her body—his body—felt like it was on fire, her veins almost burning right through her skin. There were liquid flames engulfing the both of them—and yet, they felt the cold air, settling right on top of them in a comforting, chilling wave. They could feel the iceberg looming even after hitting the ship and the fire, still burning so brightly in their bodies and their hearts.

… _and there, they knew their world would end in fire and ice_.

**-xxx-**

"Wait, Neji!" Sakura struggled to tug away from him to no avail—his grip was like melded iron. Her gaze dodged from left to right, taking in the frightened faces and the white lifejackets. "I thought that you said that Lee was—"

"He is taking Sasuke to a safe place," Neji interrupted her, glancing back at her to smirk. "It's somewhere below the deck; judging by the time, I'd say that rat's-nest-hair boy must be drowning as of now."

Sakura stopped midstep. _Drowning. Below the deck. _"Sa—Sasuke-kun." Her bottom lip trembled as her green eyes widened. Her breath came unevenly. She struggled to keep herself from hyperventilating as she stared up at the wretched man before her. "_You_," she said, the mere word not even above a harsh whisper, "You're—"

"Amazing? Talented? Beautiful?" Neji's cruel smirk seemed to widen. "_Devilishly rich?_"

"A freaking _bastard_!" She yanked her hand out of his grip.

Neji's eyes widened. They were so close to the lifeboats. Lifeboats that were right. _There_. A couple more steps, and they could be saved. But at her words, he wanted to smack the life right out of her. He raised his hand to backhand her, to show her _never_ to mess with him, _her master_—

—when she socked him right back. Hard.

The blow took him by surprise, catching him off balance as he felt the blunt force of her fist bruise his face and throw him a couple of feet away. He landed on his back, feeling his spinal disks almost dislocate at some point before he regained his breath and sat up to see her staring down at him.

"I'm tired of having you talk to me like I'm some _fucking_ object, Neji." Her green eyes were steely and ruthless and now, for the first time, full of hope. "You're selfish, conceited, and absolutely, horrendously egotistical."

"Oh, and that rat's-nest-hair dude—?"

"His name is _Sasuke_." Sakura barely spoke above a whisper, but the sentence's strength seemed to carry to Neji. "Even though he may seem selfish and can be mean sometimes," she said, unclenching her fists, "he _cares_ about me. He doesn't push my feelings aside to get what he wants and he talks to me because he loves me." Her gaze hardened. "I've been thinking about doing that the first time I met you."

Neji didn't speak for the first time in his life, feeling the boat continue to rock with the force of the other people's stampeding feet. He felt numb, hoping that it was from the cold rather than the sinking feeling in his chest. He stared down at her, watching as she stared back up at him with those full, green eyes, watching as she turned at the sound of someone calling her name. He watched the way she ran towards him, the way she was so happy and carefree.

"Sasuke-kun!"

There it was. That happy, beautiful voice.

He had to have that. Had to have _her_.

His gaze followed the way she held on to his hand to the way that she stared up at him with such loving eyes. It made his hands twitch. He wanted that—wanted that love in her eyes and in her gestures. He wanted that, too.

But she was so happy with him—with _Rat's Nest_.

And Neji knew that she would rather _die_ than become Hyuuga Sakura.

He lowered his eyes, slicking his bangs back as he glowered at the couple before him.

Plastering on a smile while giving his green-suited butler a steely glare, he took Sakura by the hand and placed a warm coat over her. "Dearest, you must be freezing," Neji said to her in a saccharine voice that made Sakura stiffen and stare at him with wary eyes. "There we go; all better, right?" He took her by the hand and tugged her away from Rat's-Nest-Head, shooting a cold, lavender gaze behind him before he turned back to Sakura and gave her a stiff, _love-you-to-death_ smile.

It was so fake that even _Lee_ knew something was off.

"Um, Neji, what are you—"

"Just go ahead on that lifeboat, dearest," Neji said just as sweetly as before as he pushed her toward said lifeboat.

Sakura looked toward Sasuke, holding his gaze as Neji continued to push her. "Hey, wait a—"

Neji silenced her by placing a finger to her lips, hushing her with surprising gentleness. "I've already gotten a lifeboat for Uchiha-san and I—you have nothing to worry about, Sakura."

Sasuke, catching her gaze once more, nodded to her as she caught his hand. He gave her a quick, reassuring squeeze. "I'll be fine," he said as a brusque answer to her questioning eyes before he let her go, nudging her gently towards the growing group of people.

A crew member struggled to control the pressing crowd, ever pushing toward the limited lifeboats—the people wanted to save their own lives; who gave a fuck about the others?

"Women and children first, please!" he shouted over the many protests. Children and women climbed into the lifeboats, adjusting their white lifejackets as one boat began to slowly head down into the water at a time. There weren't many left. The crew member spotted Sakura within the crowd of pressing men and held a hand out to her. "Come now, miss, hurry! We're going to get you out to safety, we are."

As she took the man's hand, she paused only for a moment and turned to look over her shoulder at the two men, standing by each other and seeing her off. She kept her eyes on that raven-haired man even as she climbed aboard, feeling the familiar sting behind her eyes as the boat was lowered. There was so much space between them.

It _hurt_.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered. And the wind took it away.

…

Sasuke stared back at her from his spot beside Neji before he spoke, his voice a mere murmur. "You really don't have a boat for us, do you?"

Neji's lips quirked up. He seemed to have turned into a Chershire cat that instant. "Not at all." He turned his cruel smirk upon the other man. "My mistake."

…

At that moment, Sakura knew—her eyes widened, her breath came in one sharp breath—

There were gasps among the women and the children in her boat.

—and she jumped, dangled from the ledge by her midsection and swung herself over the ledge of the ship.

She didn't hear the screams and the protests of the women, aghast at her practically suicidal action.

But she didn't care.

She didn't care about the looks that she got while she ran through the hallway and pushed past other passengers.

Didn't care about the way the air was so fucking cold against her skin as she practically rammed herself through sheets of wind.

"Sakura!"

That voice…

That was it—that was _all_ she could think about…

The tears that had stung her eyes for the longest time, finally began to flow down her cheeks, almost freezing in the air as she jumped for him and made him catch her, let him kiss her and kiss her tears away.

…_ Sasuke-kun_.

"I can't do it," she said, panting and choking back her broken voice as she fisted her hands into his shirt and let out a heart-wracking sob. "I can't. Not without you."

He held her face in his hands—kissed her once, twice. "You're such an idiot." Another kiss. "Such a stupid idiot." He heaved as he pulled her into him, holding her and scolding her in such a gentle tone that she just couldn't take him seriously.

And Neji watched, frozen in his spot, heaving wet salt water out of his lungs as his eyes shouted mind-numbing, fiery curses at them. Then his mind went blank. He stopped. And let his hand lead. With precise agility, Neji didn't even realize that he had pulled his gun when he felt his finger on the trigger. He knew it was wrong, that it was foolish to even bother pulling it out for such a moronic reason. But he wanted it—wanted to hurt someone, _anyone_ for making a fool out of him. And that someone—those someone_s_—happened to be right in front of him.

The first shot set them off, forcing the lovers apart and their heads into a quick realization that Neji was firing. But it wasn't from just any old gun.

"What the fuck?" Sasuke shouted over the roar of the firing gun as he pulled Sakura away from the firing range.

"Like it?" Neji said, ceasing his firing to show off his gun. He smirked. "It's a shuriken gun; shoots the little ninja things like darts." His cruel smirk seemed to grow even wider. "The shuriken are poison-tipped, too—adds extra _fun_."

Sasuke gave her a silent glance that seemed to scream—_Run_. Taking her by the hand, he pulled Sakura with him, dodging the shuriken as they dashed down the stairs. The water had already managed to swallow up the entire first bottom level, slowly making its way up the flight of stairs; it was already knee-high. They waded through the water, hearing Neji's tired pants.

Neji stopped at the edge of the staircase that he had just seen them run down and tried to catch his breath. From the top of the stairs, he could see them, wading their way through the water as fast as they could. He pulled the trigger at them; another shuriken exploded from the barrel, only managing to catch the water beside them and startle the pink-haired girl.

Sakura screamed, desperately trying to wade faster in the water just as the shuriken sliced through the water and stopped in its tracks. She looked back, watching as Neji trailed his way back upstairs, just before he yelled breathlessly, "I hope you two go to hell!"

He was gone after that.

"Sakura!"

She blinked twice, registering Sasuke voice and the rising flood waters. Taking his hand again, they struggled to get through the heavy salt waters as the harsh liquid tried to shove them back and under their oppressive waves. It was a journey to get to the staircase. Just before they were free of the water's grasp, a sick cracking sound echoed through the bottom layer—and in burst a gush of white-foamed waves. It pushed the two of them back, into the dark, watery abyss and even farther away from the now flooded staircase.

The water was now chest high.

Sasuke tugged at Sakura's hand from under the water, gesturing for her to tread the water and follow him. They swam through a once dry hallway, the lights above crackling from overexertion and lack of electricity. "Come on, Sakura," Sasuke said, spitting out salt water that dared to invade his mouth. "We're almost there."

'_Something's blocking the hallway_,' Sasuke thought, treading through the water as fast as he could without losing Sakura. '_But what_?' His eyes landed on a wired gate, and he reached out to twist the doorknob.

It didn't budge. Of _course_.

A crew member waded through the hip deep waters on his side.

"Hey!" Sakura called, finding her voice. She saw the way the crew member's head snapped up and how his eyes seemed to widen to plate proportions. "Hey, sir, we need to get out of here! Can you open the gate?"

He seemed to stop almost reluctantly, his hands trembling for the keys that were latched to his side. He picked through them, trying each of them in the gate's lock to no avail.

The water continued to rise.

"C'mon, c'mon," Sasuke said. They were almost out—they just needed this fucking gate to unlock!

The keys fell right out of the man's trembling hands. He lifted his gaze, giving the two a look at his frightened eyes. "Oops," was all he said before he turned around and made his way up the stairs.

The keys…

Gone…

Underwater…

Sucking in a breath, Sasuke dove under the water, his hands scrambling around to grab the keys. He felt a metal ring touch his hand. _Got it._ Reaching up to the surface, he took in another breath before he dove down once more, trying the keys the other man didn't touch.

"Sasuke-kun!"

He gritted his teeth. _Only two more keys left_…

"_Sasuke-kun, please hurry!_"

The last one locked into place, and at a sharp twist, it opened the gate. Without even waiting for the hinges to creak, the waters pushed desperately past, dumping the two of them onto the floor and pushing them right up to the stairs.

With deep gasps, they stood up, Sasuke taking Sakura's hand as they headed up the stairs for higher ground.

They passed through rooms, pushing through empty dorms and closing random doors as they searched for an exit—only to stop at a familiar looking bedroom.

Sakura stopped first, holding Sasuke back as she stared at the couple, lying in the bed.

"What?" Sasuke demanded.

Sakura didn't answer; her eyes were glassy and seemingly unfocused.

It didn't even seem like she was even breathing.

When she didn't respond, his eyes followed hers—and his breath stopped.

All it took was a look at the shock of blond hair, those whisker-looking things on his cheeks, and that goofy, tired grin on his face for Sasuke to recognize his friend. In his arms was a familiar-looking girl, her raven locks splayed against the pillow as she held the blond man's arms to her. There were tear tracks on her face. The room smelled of warmth and unsaid things that seemed to whisper of their night together in the very room.

Sasuke looked to Sakura for answers, about to ask her why these two were still here when everyone by now knew of the ship's sinking and were frantically getting off the ship as they spoke—but the words didn't seem to come out when he saw the same tears on that raven-haired girl's cheeks trail down Sakura's face. Her emerald eyes were shining and red around the rims. When she looked to him, she knew that he saw, and he understood. When she smiled, he knew her thoughts. And when she slowly made her way over to her best friend's side and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, he _felt_ something that he had only felt once with the rosette—heartache. He found himself standing by his best friend's side, staring down at him as he _hn_-ed. "Dobe," he muttered, fighting a foreign sting behind his eyes.

He saw Naruto move and watched as his friend reached out to clasp his hand. They stared at each other, honest cerulean with tainted black. And, in that moment, Sasuke could feel all of his questions disintegrate.

The blond managed a soft, ironic grin. "Sorry, teme," Naruto said, careful not to wake up his beauty.

Sasuke shook his head, ignoring the lump in his throat. "Hn."

_Don't apologize to me. I don't want apologies at a time like this. Not like this._

"Heh," the blond grunted. "Same old answer, huh…" There was a comforting silence before he spoke once more. "It's just that…" Naruto swallowed heavily, not knowing that his next sentence would coincide with Sasuke's thoughts. "…I realized that living without the person you love," he said, his voice barely a whisper, "is like not living at all."

For a moment, Sasuke didn't move. Didn't say anything; not even his typical grunt.

Naruto stirred. "You get me, teme?"

"… Aa."

Sasuke was expecting for the dobe to be angry with him, to lash out on him one last time for his "stupid" grunts and "emotionally constipated behavior"—in fact, he was almost _hoping_ that the blond would do something like that. Just to make the situation feel even just a little bit normal.

But instead, Naruto said nothing. No words passed through his lips; his blue eyes said it all.

_Thanks for understanding me_.

The goofy grin was plastered back on his face, and he patted Sasuke on the back. "Get out of here, alright? Live for me."

Sasuke nodded slowly. "Okay." He looked over to Sakura, watching her murmur soft words to her friend before she gave Hinata another soft kiss to the forehead and smiled as her friend wiped a tear away and sent her off with white lifejackets in hand, pushing her gently toward the raven-haired man. He waited for her, holding out a patient hand and letting her take it and squeeze it with all her might, listening to her while she failed to stifle her tears as they left the room.

Then, without looking back, they put on the lifejackets, jumped over the balcony, onto another ledge, and into the cold night air.

**-xxx-**

The crew members were still struggling to push back the ever-growing crowd, pressing them back to whence they came to no avail.

"I said, women and children first!" resounded one of them, pushing them back with his arms. "Stop your advances, now!"

A man pushed at him, desperately trying to shove him aside in order to reach a lifeboat. "You can't do this to us!" he shouted back, his hands flailing as he tried to reach past the crew member. "This is oppression!"

The rest of the crowd roared to life, demanding their places on the last few boats that were dwindling at a quick pace.

"We have no more boats! We can't fit the rest of you, let alone ourselves!"

Neji shoved his way up to the front. "Kyo-san, remember our deal!" he snarled, pointing to the wad of cash in the man's breast pocket. "You promised me—"

The man chucked the wad into Neji's face, letting the bills scatter and fall pitifully to the wooden deck. He sneered back at the bewildered rich man and said, "No amount of money can get you by this time."

"Fuck you, Kyo! I'm livin'!" A passenger threw himself toward the lifeboats, ignoring the screams of the women and the children onboard.

There was a crash, a gun-powdered bang, and an unearthly silence that followed.

The man who had lunged for the boat was shot, a bullet tearing through the vest of his lifejacket and piercing right into his greedy heart, forcing him to collapse into his own puddle of blood on the now ruby-stained deck.

Everyone's eyes were wide with terror; not a single soul could speak.

And the man who had shot him, the crew member named Kyo, stared down at his handiwork, at the puddle of dark red ooze that seemed from the man's chest. His eyes, wide as plates, followed the trail of blood; the gun in his hand shook. In a trembling daze, he turned his back toward the open ocean. And placed the gun to his head.

And with a frenzy of ear-piercing shrieks from the passengers, his forefinger repeated the sin of pulling the trigger, his body falling into the dark blue sea waters with a sickening splash.

The rest of the passengers managed to stop—to stare—and then, with loud shouts, to head to the remaining lifeboats and steal the rest of the seats. One man stopped to take the lifejacket of the dead man for himself. Another bent down to take the wad of money that had been scattered over the now blood-covered deck.

It was a breathtaking, artistic view of chaos.

Neji, picking up an infant he saw in the corner, ran through the crowd, holding up the child as if it were a trophy and proclaiming it as his just as he clambered onto one of the last few lifeboats.

In the midst of the pandemonium, two figures landed on a ledge, the bracing air hitting them in the chests. The pink-haired girl lost her balance and nearly fell off right before the young man beside her caught her by the waist and got her back on her feet.

"Don't be so careless," he muttered to her, tugging her by the hand to a lower ledge, coaxing her by gently as if to not scare her off.

She let him lead her, let him take her by the hand as they dodged other passengers. She felt the boat slant slightly, knowing that the ship was about ready to tilt in not-very-long.

It seemed like everyone who couldn't reach a lifeboat knew what was about to happen; a line formed before them, heading up to higher ground.

"Jeez, I feel like I'm walking through the valley of Death here," an older man said under his breath as he inched slowly up the walkway.

Sasuke snorted from behind him. "Walk a little bit faster through that valley, why don't you?"

The pace quickened, along with the sloping speed of the ship. With every step, the gargantuan liner tilted to a slightly steeper degree. When the two of them got to the bow of the liner, they held on tightly. Sasuke held her from behind, letting Sakura lean against the railing of the bars.

"Sasuke-kun…"

The raven-haired man turned to her, his breath visible in the cold air. He took in her flushed face and red-rimmed green eyes in acknowledgement to her calling him and watched as she smiled at him.

In a cracked voice, she managed to say, "This is where we met."

The statement stopped his thoughts. He wrapped an arm around her—pressed his lips to her head.

And braced himself for the oncoming terror.

The vessel finally became ram-rod straight, standing straight up in the water with the posture of a priest. Gravity cackled as it pulled at the passengers, sending the majority of them sliding down its incline, crashing through metal bars head first, feet first before landing into the water with a fast-paced, neck-breaking splash.

A woman next to the couple, once hanging from the bars, couldn't hold on. Sakura watched as her fingers slipped, watched in horror as the fear on the woman's face morphed into a shrieking mouth of black as the lady fell, hit a bar face first and tumbled into the water.

She couldn't stop shaking.

"It's okay," Sasuke murmured into her ear as he rubbed her gently. "You're going to be okay."

For once in her life, Sakura wasn't so sure.

"You have to trust me, Sakura."

At his sentence, she felt her eyes fill up with tears. "Okay."

"Alright," he murmured, watching the ship begin to crack into two. His eyes narrowed. "This part of the boat is going to be sucked into the water," he stated, analyzing the situation carefully. "We'll be pulled under with it."

"So—"

"Hold your breath on the count of three." There was another sickening, cracking noise of creaking wooden floors. "One…" The sea foam began to eat at the edge of the broken ship. "Two…" The ocean's vacuum began to pull it in. "Three!"

And then, they went under.

The icy waters stung at their skin, pricking their warmth with spiny, invisible needles of frost. It was as if the waves slapped them in the face in an attempt to wake them up from their nightmare.

For a while, Sakura thought she had transported into a different world, watching the salt bubbles dance around her as her pink hair floated in a celestial halo around her. It was then that she realized that she couldn't breathe that she pushed herself toward the surface. Breaking the water's surface barrier, she sucked in an enormous gasp of air. "Sasuke-kun?" she called, spitting out some water and flowed into her mouth. She looked around, hoping to be able to locate him; just as she was about to call him again, she heard her name—

"Sakura!"

—just as someone pushed her head below the waters.

Another man, struggling to swim, had held onto her in an attempt to stay afloat. Death wasn't an option for him; he didn't _want_ to die.

"Get off of her!" Sasuke sent a fist in his direction, knocking the other man unconscious as he pulled the girl up from underneath the water, nearly breathing out a sigh of relief when he saw her gulp down more air. "Be careful," he warned again, managing to find her hand below the frosty waters. He tugged her along to a wooden plank that once belonged to the first-class door hinges.

"Here," he said, nudging her toward it. He watched as she got on, the wooden plank creating ripples across the water.

She didn't miss the way that he tried to hide his shivering. She lay across the plank and reached for his hand. "Why don't you get on, too?" she asked him softly, caressing his cheek with another hand.

He leaned into her touch, eager for some contact in the cold, even though her hands did nothing to soothe the burning sting of the cold. He stared back at her and turned his lips onto her fingers, biting the inside of his cheek in order to keep his teeth from chattering. "The plank isn't big enough to support two people," he murmured, watching his breath come out in smokes as his arms reached for her, managing to hold both her hands in his.

The freezing night was beginning to get to her, causing her to shiver as she brushed Sasuke's bangs out of his eyes in order to find that sharp gaze of obsidian to comfort her. Seeing his eyes close in what seemed to be concentration, she kissed his eyelids—pulled back and shuddered, the fear and the cold seeping into her systems.

She knew that if she looked around, there would be bodies, unmoving and floating like ice cubes in the sea waters. The sky seemed to go on endlessly, all black except for the magnificent display of stars; it would have seemed beautiful had it not reminded her of the fact that help from anyone couldn't reach them for days.

They were stranded in freezing waters. Without food. Warmth. Or anything else.

The only thing they had was the entirely slim chance of living.

That thought alone made a fearful gasp escape her lips; her hands gripped Sasuke's with painful force. She shuddered again before she whimpered his name. She was afraid to cry in fear that the tears would stick to her cheeks. "Sasuke-kun," she called again.

His hands, though trembling, squeezed back in reassurance. His gaze lifted to hers with questioning eyes.

She swallowed soundlessly, trying to dispel the lump that seemed to have formed from thin air. "I love you." It sounded cracked, her voice not seeming to work. Her breath came in shorter pants as she struggled to keep from shaking. It was hard, to accept the fact that something like this was happening just as she found some sort of happiness.

And it was even harder to accept the fact that this man before her, the man she _knew_ she loved, was slowly dying.

It was all for her.

And in those seconds after, the seconds she thought she would have for crying and for her self-pity and for praying, were taken up with silence.

Breathing was the only sound either of them could hear.

Then, Sasuke leaned in—and kissed her.

It was a relief from the trembling and the shivering and the waves of bitter winds that seemed to crash into them every second. The kiss warmed them, kept their lips and faces hot and their needs from spiraling.

It was what kept them from tumbling over the edge to insanity.

He pulled away, pressing his lips to her hands and exhaling hot breaths onto their frozen fingers. It wasn't until he lifted his gaze once more that she saw the anger and the frustration hidden behind those dark eyes.

"Don't you _dare_ say your goodbyes," he managed to say between stutters. The chills got to him, forcing his teeth into a chattering frenzy. Grunts and shivers were the most he could do to keep himself from creating spasms in the water. "Don't tell me that you won't ever see me again, Sakura; I won't have it."

The tears she had resolved to never let fall disobeyed her will, pushing past and falling down her cheeks before frosting upon her skin. "Sasuke-kun…" she choked and shivered into him, pressing her forehead against his. She shook her head, the gesture mostly full of quivers rather than her own movement. Her bottom lip protruded in an attempt to cease her tears. Another sob. "I'm scared… I don't want to die here."

"Baka," Sasuke deadpanned, sighing as he placed a gentle hand on the swell of her head. "You won't." He rubbed her head slowly, fighting the need to shudder in the midst of the cold. He could barely feel his toes. He kept his heavy gaze on her, piercing her soul right through. His voice came in a soft murmur. "The only place that _you_ are going to die in is a soft, warm bed. Not here. Not now." He shivered and swallowed once. "Understand?"

She nodded, biting her bottom lip as she leaned into him, keeping the tight hold on his hands. "Okay."

"Good," he sighed, nuzzling her nose. "Nothing is ever the end, you got that?"

She gave him another nod, her brow scrunching as she tried to control the sting behind her eyes. "Yeah. I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun."

For the first time that night, he smirked and said his favorite word, something that made Sakura smile in spite of the odd situation: "Hn."

**-xxx-**

A lifeboat floated in the water, the passengers onboard watching as the remainder of the once beautiful, large boat of its time disappeared below the waters. The women gasped and covered their faces in fright, their current situation a terrible reminder of the accident that had just happened.

Two women sat beside each other in the midst of the terrified passengers, one woman seemingly frozen in her seat as the other one gritted her teeth in frustration.

The seemingly frozen lady pushed her brown hair away from her face, her eyes suspiciously moist as they followed the bobbing bow of the ship that was finally sinking below the surface. Her thoughts wandered to her daughter. She closed her eyes and gripped her fur coat, shuddering at the thought of her lively, bright-eyed and pink-haired daughter cold and unmoving in the waters. She should have seen this coming, this accident. She shouldn't have been so angry with her and demanding.

Now, for all she knew, Sakura was dead.

And it was all her fault.

The woman next to her, Tsunade, spoke up in the silence. "Do you think that there're survivors?"

Mrs. Haruno was silent. She didn't even bother to look up at the blonde woman, afraid she might lose her control and gauge her eyes out. "Probably not," she finally managed to say, still not looking up at Tsunade. "The water's too cold; they're all probably dying as we speak."

"_Dying_," Tsunade repeated, the word seeming too foreign on her lips. "That means that they're still alive. To some degree." She stood up from her seat, her hazel eyes glinting in the dark, moonlit night. "We can still save some of them."

"What are you, crazy?" one of the others said to her. "They'll swamp our entire boat! Tip it over! Then what are the rest of us going to be?"

"Dead, that's what," said another, answering the other's question.

Tsunade stared at them with her strong, determined eyes. "So you all _really_ want to have the conscience of at least a _thousand people_, dead because _you all_ are too _selfish_ to row this stinking boat around and lend a hand to some people that may be alive right now?"

Silence met her questions; it gave her the strength to continue.

"The majority of them _died_ tonight, falling into the water on impact; the ones in the waters that have survived the falls are only a couple dozen, scattered in the ocean like bird eggs. _A couple dozen_, not a thousand, you see. And we, people of the same kind, _aren't_ going to help the others? We're going to let them rot then, like _scum_?" Tsunade sat down, crossing her arms. She was shivering more from the anger of the injustice of the entire issue rather than the cold itself. "You're all _rotten_, I tell ya." Another sneer. "_Rotten_."

One of the people growled at her. "Shut yer frickin' pie hole before we toss _you_ into the water and let you rot like scum!"

Tsunade stared. And gave him a very ironic smile. "That's fine," she said, almost a little too calmly. "Just another death waiting on _your_ conscience." At the renewed silence, she got back up and took up two oars. "I don't know about you people now, but I'm rowin' this thing back over there; and _I_ am finding some people to save." With determination and will-power set in her heart, Tsunade began to row towards the site of death.

And no one objected to her anymore.

**-xxx-**

Sakura lay on her back, staring up at the sky, counting the stars and murmuring lyrics to a song she didn't even know. Her hand clasped Sasuke's tightly. It was a comforting gesture; it let Sakura close her eyes once and allow her to focus—not on dying, not on what would happen, but just living. She concentrated on living, on finding a way out of this mess that she was in.

And finding a way to live with Sasuke.

The wind seemed to slice at her cheeks. She closed her eyes at the sensation, too tired to shiver anymore. She focused on the frost that gathered on her hair and her eyelashes, trying not to think about the pain of the cold.

And, in the midst of her concentration, found a light that brightened her through her soul.

"Hello? Is anybody out there?" The voice was far off; they were at least a good few kilometers away.

The sound made her heart soar. In her excitement, she rolled over on her stomach, a smile crossing her face as her eyes took in Sasuke's sleeping face, the angelic scene, the way his eyelashes seemed to be frosted in just the same fashion as her own…

She shook herself, knowing that now was not the time to be thinking of such things. "Sasuke-kun," she said, shaking him by the shoulder. "Wake up."

He didn't.

Her mind went blank.

No.

.

.

.

_Don't you __dare__ say your goodbyes; don't tell me that you won't ever see me again, Sakura. I won't have it._

.

.

.

_No_.

Sakura shook him again, her mind in a daze. Her heart quickened its pace as a thousand thoughts shoved for space in her mind, hoping for her to register one of them.

She didn't.

The only thought she could fully register was painted all over with _despair_.

"Sasuke-kun, please, wake up."

She _couldn't_—

"Sasuke-kun."

_He_ **couldn't**—

"_Sasuke-kun_, _please_."

The tears wouldn't stop this time. They were rolling down her cheeks too fast for even the cold to catch them. And strangely, as she screamed his name, the only thing that seemed to comfort her then, was how the tears seemed to make everything—his cold hands, her cold cheeks, the slicing wind—so much _warmer_.

And then, with the tears still running down her face, she kissed him.

Then, everything else in the world seemed to disappear.

It was a relief.

Because she wanted—so _very_ much—to follow him into the dark.

**-xxx-**

Sakura stopped when the ship started to rock again. She bent her head and closed her eyes, her brow furrowing as if she was thinking up something tremendous.

The others sat there, Sakura's granddaughter sitting there with her eyes wide and brim-full of tears; the research team, sitting there, swallowing their empty throats; and Mr. Alex, the young blond man in front of her, still holding the tape recorder in front of the ancient pinkette.

"Did he die, Mrs. Uchiha?" he asked in such a low tone that not even his team behind him could make out anything other than a murmur.

But Sakura heard. And she smiled. "Well," she said, "if he did, wouldn't you think my last name would still be Haruno?"

**-xxx-**

The lifeboat came, Tsunade manning the oars still while she called out. She heard a distant cry, a distant calling of a name—and she recognized the voice. She rowed toward the voice, one of the passengers carrying a flashlight to light the way, watching in pure horror as the light shone on the frozen bodies, bobbing in the ocean waters.

It was as if they were ice cubes—as if they had never had lives.

Tsunade decided to call again as to elicit the voice once more. She knew she heard it. "Hey!" she called. "Is anyone out here? Can somebody hear me?"

There was a distant shriek. Someone was crying.

Tsunade quickly rowed over to the source of the sobbing, the sound registering in her mind as familiar. She remembered that she had heard it sometime before—and from someone familiar. As she pulled up to a wooden plank, she saw the head of pink hair, another head with raven locks, and frozen tears falling on their interlocked hands.

She didn't even think that the poor, pink-haired girl even knew that there were people there beside her, slowly pulling her and the frozen boy into the roomy lifeboat.

It was heartbreaking just to watch the frosty tears slip down her cheeks and fall onto that poor handsome boy.

It was all Tsunade and the rest of them could do. When Tsunade saw her mother move to hold her daughter, she stopped her by placing an understanding hand on her shoulder and shaking her head.

"You promised me," she croaked as she stared down at him. One of her fists came down on his chest, startling the rest of the passengers at the loud thump that reverberated into the air. "You're such a _bastard_, Sasuke."

The next sound startled them all. It made Tsunade's eyes widen, Mrs. Haruno's breath stop, and the rest of the passengers stop breathing.

And Sakura?

She was too busy registering the fact that Sasuke had just coughed to focus on anything else.

**-xxx-**

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke coughed again before his eyes managed to focus on Sakura, taking in her shivering form. He wanted to reach out and touch her and stroke her cheek. It looked like she had been crying, seeing how there were droplets stuck to her cheek and how big and large her green eyes were. He coughed again—almost felt like laughing. He faintly heard someone order to find something to wrap him up in and felt a warm blanket cover him. Then, staring back up at her, he managed to smirk again. "Hey," he croaked.

Her bottom lip trembled and she let out something that resembled a sob and smiled. "You're okay," she replied softly, her hands reaching out for him. "You…" Before she could finish her sentence, she collapsed.

The only thing she heard and felt before everything went black was the sound of a man calling her name and the warmth of mysterious arms wrapped around her body.

.

.

.

_Nothing is ever the end, you got that?_

.

.

.

**-xxx-**

The ship rocked again, just as Sakura was finishing her tale. She told the rest about how, when she woke up, she cried when she saw him, holding her to his chest; how Neji, after not being able to find her on the rescue boat, married someone else and managed to end his own life by jumping out of his own office building when the economy got too rough; and how she finally managed to marry the Uchiha, living happily in America where they started their own little business that managed to get along well.

"Wait," Mr. Alex said, stopping the rosette in mid-sentence. "If Mr. Uchiha lived, then why is he not here today? With you?"

Sakura smiled at him, her green eyes sparkling. "It's because he managed to pass away _just_ last spring." She managed to cough out an old laugh before she turned to her granddaughter. "Keiko never met him, but now, I think she's heard the story quite well."

Her granddaughter wiped away her tears before she let a sound pass her lips that somewhat resembled a sob and a laugh combined. "Yeah."

"Well then," Sakura said, adjusting herself in her wheelchair, "If we are finished today, Mr. Alex…"

Alex clicked the stop button on the tape recorder before he reached out and firmly shook her hand. "It was a pleasure speaking to you, Mrs. Uchiha—and, uh, are you sure you don't know the whereabouts of that necklace you were wearing? At all?"

A mysterious smile graced her lips. "No," she said. "It's long gone. I'm sorry." Then, she let Keiko take her up to her room.

…

…

The entire research team had gone to bed, and the ship was still cutting through the water like a blade. The only sound through the hall was the soft pit-pat of naked feet against metal. A pink-gray head bobbed through the hallway, making way towards the edge of the ship.

Sakura leaned over the railing. Then, she placed both feet upon the bottom edge. And took out a dazzling green necklace.

The memories seemed to come back twice as hard as she stared.

…

…

_Sakura held onto her beloved as they made their way off the ship, keeping a hold of his arm as the rain pattered down on them in sheets. _

_ Lady Liberty stared down at them, the torch held up proudly in her hand in a warm welcome. _

_ Sasuke was right; America was magical._

_ Sakura felt a little off balanced at the neck—and she didn't even notice it before. Clutching at her neck, she felt around and wrapped her hand around the fairly large, jagged jewel. The flower of the sea seemed to hang the air around her to the point where she felt like she couldn't breathe._

_ And Sasuke noticed. "Sakura," he murmured, fingering the jewel around her neck. "You still have this."_

_ She nodded slowly, not knowing what to do with it. _

_ Sasuke stared at it, wiping away the stray droplets of rain that managed to catch upon the jewel. He glanced up at her, silently asking her: _What's going to happen to it?

_ With a smile, she pressed his hand to her cheek. And murmured something that sounded like a promise._

_._

_._

_._

_It's the Flower of the Sea; I'm going to have to return it someday._

_._

_._

_._

Standing on the ledge, she smiled, the jewel still in her hand. Then, she looked down at the ocean waves, their tips foamy white as if begging for their Flower. She obeyed them—and dropped the necklace into the ocean.

"I've returned it, Sasuke-kun," she whispered into the night as she made her way back into her cabin. "I've done it." She nestled down into her bed, her eyes taking in the beautiful pictures of her and Sasuke—their horse-back riding, their small business, their first child—and slowly let her eyelids slip shut.

She felt warm. Cozy.

And so very tired.

Then—like the waves—she slipped away into the dark, finding herself _finally_ at home in the arms of her beloved.

**-xxx-**

**Fin.**

**Author's note:** :) Well, that's the end. It took me lots of time to write this one. I really didn't want to have a longer story, so this is the last chapter—most definitely.

I know that the ending's not as powerful as Titanic's, but it fit for the story. Made me cry writing it. (cries and blows nose into tissue)

Anyways… there are couple things up for discussion:

1 ) _**Why Sasuke didn't die:**_

I know, I know. In the movie, Jack dies. BUT, I have a good excuse—there was an error in the movie: the "Unsinkable Molly Brown"—_Herculean's_ Tsunade—was who she was; in _Titanic_, although she vouched to go back and save the others, the people threatened to toss her overboard and she sat down in order to save her own life. In actuality, Molly Brown took over a boat and rowed back and managed to save a good number of people, considering the number of lifeboats and the limited space. So, in _Herculean_, I decided to make Tsunade the _real_ Molly Brown—able to overtake her ship and row back in time to be able to save people. The lifeboat in _Titanic_ came too late to save anyone but Rose. The guy who had managed to find Rose clearly stated himself: "We're too late." So, with Tsunade, getting her head into gear, they weren't "too late," which was why Sasuke was able to live. If Tsunade had been like the Molly Brown in _Titanic_, Sasuke wouldn't have lived. :)

2 ) _**Differing elements between **_Herculean_** and **_Titanic:

Yeah—there are tons of things in this last chapter that don't correspond with the movie. Made it that way because I love happy endings—and because Lee can't be that heartless.

And because I really like shuriken guns. (insert devilish smirk here)

3 ) _**No epilogue?:**_

Yup. D: For _Herculean_, there isn't going to be an epilogue. Normally I like to write them, but in _Herculean_'s case, it's over and done. There's nothing else that I can add to this to make it feel 'more complete'; it already _is_. :) Yeah.

So yeah. :) Please do review, review, review for me. I cranked out tons of pages for this last chappie, so I'm looking for some serious lovin' coming my way. :D

Last time I'm asking this for this story:

_Review, review, review._ :)


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